The dictation spelling book

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3 3433 06925319 7

DICTATION

SPELLING

BOOK

yOSSMAN AND MILLS

if Publishers Weekly
May 31 od

THE

DICTATION SPELLING BOOK

BY

MARY B. ROSSMAN and MARY W. MILLS
Mary Institute, St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS:

NixoN-JONBS Printing Co.

1905.

COPYRIGHT

By Maky E. rr-^M.:K axj, ^T.

RT W. Mills,'

- TT . f .

T. A

PREFACE.

This book is the result of a plan snooessfully
worked out in the class-room by ihe compilers,
and is therefore the direct outcome of practical
experience. The chief object of the dictations is
the teaching of correct spelling but there are
other distinct and definite aims.

Each lesson contains a number of words which
already form a part of the child's speaking vo-
cabulary, and are valuable only as words to be
correctly spelled; but besides these familiar
words, each selection also presents certain en-
tirely new words with which ihe child has no ac-
quaintance, and which are valuable not only as
spelling material, but also as they serve to enrich
his vocabulary.

In teaching such words, it seems most essential

(8)

i

4 Dictation Spelling Booh.

that they be presented in their proper relation^
as used by the best authors^ and not as isolated
words, totally unrelated, as is the case with the
ordinary spelling list.

The average child of twelve or tiiirteen has not
sufficient experience or judgment to guide him
in the choice of dictionary definitions, and is,
moreover, confused by the number of definitions
given of a single word. In studying these dicta-
tion exercises, he does not need to consult the
dictionary for the meanings of all the new words
he meets, but is, in many cases, led to the mean-
ing by the context. If, however, he must resort
to the dictionary, he is certainly helped to a right
choice of definition by the fact that the unfamil-
iar word forms part of a connected thought; and
the word itself becomes more surely his because
of this.

Not only is the child's vocabulary increased
by these single new words, but as he constantly
meets with phrases and sentences which accu-
rately and beautifully convey some thought fa-
miliar to him, but for which he has no adequate
expression, it is believed that his power to put

Preface. 5

his own thoughts into clear and pertinent lan-
guage will be thereby increased.

The discussion and frequent writing and re-
writing of selections from our best authors neces-
sarily leads the child to some appreciation and
taste for good English, and tends to arouse an
interest in the authors themselves as well as in
their works.

The child's mental growth is, in the nature of
things, an extremely gradual process; it is neces-
sary, therefore, that the same subject be repeated-
ly presented, though in a slightly varied form,
before he becomes master of it. The selections in
this book are very carefully graded, from the sim-
ple to the comparatively diflScult, and many of
the diflBcult words occur again and again.

As children acquire knowledge only through a
presentation that appears to them sensible, no
selection has been chosen which does not contain
a completely unified thought.

As to punctuation: after five or six funda-
mental rules have been mastered, the best results
are obtained when the child is led to realize from
observation and imitation, that punctuation is
a simple and sensible matter, rather than the

6 Dictation Spelling Booh.

complicated and arbitrary process that it too fre-
quently appears to him.

A few suggestions as to the use of the book are
offered. First of all, it is expected that no exer-
cise be assigned for preparation until the teacher
has carefully discussed it with the class; this
gives an opportunity to teach experimentally the
use of words, marks of punctuation, the name and
somewhat of the personality of the author, and
to consider any literary or historical allusion that
may require explanation. Af ten the exercise has
thus been made comprehensiw to the class, it
should be assigned as a lesson, to be carefully
studied. The children should then be required to
reproduce it exactly from the teacher's dictation.
Without such rigid exaction, the whole system
would prove valueless.

In a few instances, slight verbal changes have
been made in the standard texts of the authors
chosen; but this has been done only when it
seemed necessary to make the detached selection
more easily comprehensible, and in no case has
the essential meaning of a passage been altered.

1.

Now the chair in which Grandfather sat was
made of oak, which had grown dark with age, but
had been rubbed and polished till it shone as
bright as mahogany. It was very large and
heavy, and had a back that rose high above
Grandfather's head. This back was curiously
carved in open work, so as to represent flowers
and foliage and other devices, which the children
had often gazed at, but never could understand.
On the very tiptop of the chair, over the head of
Grandfather himself, was the likeness of a lion's
head, which had such a savage grin that you would
almost expect to hear it growl and snarl.

Nathaniel Hawthorne,

2.

The torrents of Norway leap down from their
mountain homes with plentiful cataracts, and
run brief but glorious races to the sea. The
streams of England move smoothly through green
fields and beside ancient, sleepy towns. The
Scotch rivers brawl through the open moorland
and flash along steep Highland glens. The rivers
of the Alps are born in icy caves, from which

(7)

8 Dictation Spelling Booh.

they issue forth with furious, turbid waters; but
when their anger has been forgotten in the slum-
ber of some blue lake, they flow down more softly
to see the vineyards of France and Italy, the
gray castles of Germany, and the verdant mead-
ows of Holland. — Henry Van Dyke,

3.

Professor Lessing, the celebrated German phil-
osopher, was remarkable for his absent-minded-
ness.

One night, returning from a walk, he knocked
at his own door, and the servant, not recognizing
her master in the dark, said quickly, "The Pro-
fessor is not at home."

"Never mind," said Lessing, abstractedly, turn-
ing away, "tell him I shall come again some
other time." — Anonymous,

4.

All the inhabitants of the little village are busy.
One is clearing a spot on the verge of the forest
for his homestead ; another is hewing the trunk of
a fallen pinetree, in order to build himself a
dwelling; a third is hoeing in his field of Indian
corn. Here comes a huntsman out of the woods,

Dictation Spelling Book. 9

dragging a bear which he has shot, and shoating
to the neighbors to lend him a hand. There goes
a man to the sea-shore, with a spade and a bucket,
to dig a mess of clams, which were a principal
article of food with the first settlers. Scattered
here and there are two or three dusky figures,
clad in mantles of fur, with ornaments of bone
hanging from their ears, and the feathers of wild
birds in their coal-black hair.

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

5.

Far out in the ocean, where the water is as
blue as the prettiest corn-flower, and as clear as
crystal, it is very, very deep ; so deep, indeed, that
no cable could fathom it. There dwells the Sea
King and his subjects. We must not imagine
that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but
bare yellow sand. No, indeed ; the most singular
flowers and plants grow there, the leaves and
stems of which are so pliant, that the slightest
agitation of the water causes them to stir as if
they had life. In the deepest spot of all, stands
the castle of the Sea King. Its walls are built
of coral, and the long, Gothic windows are of the
clearest amber. The roof is formed of shells that
open and close as the water flows over them.

10 Dictation Spelling Book.

Their appearance is very beautiful; for in each
lies a glittering pearl, which would be fit for the
diadem of a queen. — Hans Andersen.

6-

The Sea King^s palace was one of those splen-
did sights which we can never see on earth. The
walls and the ceiling of the large ball-room were
of thick, transparent crystal. Many hundreds of
colossal shells, some of a deep red, others of a
grass green, stood on each side in rows, with blue
fire in them, which lighted up the whole saloon,
and shone through the walls, so that the sea was
also illuminated. Innumerable fishes, great and
small, swam past the crystal walls; on some of
them the scales glowed with a purple brilliancy,
and on others they shone like silver and gold.
Through the halls flowed a broad stream, and in
it danced the mermen and the mermaids to the
music of their own sweet singing.

Hans Andersen.

7.

See what a lovely shell.
Small and pure as a pearl,
Lying close to my foot.

Dictation Spelling Book. 11

Frail, but a work divine,

Made so fairily well

With delicate spire and whorl.

How exquisitely minute,

A miracle of design! — Alfred Tennyson.

8.

A Quaker had a quarrelsome neighbor, whose
cow often broke into the Quaker's well-cultivated
garden. One morning, having driven the cow
from his premises to the owner's house, he said
to him, "Friend, I have driven thy cow home once
more; and if I find her in my garden again,
I ''

"Suppose you do," his neighbor angrily ex-
claimed, "what will you do?"

"Why," said, the Quaker, "I'll drive her home

to thee again, friend."

The cow never again troubled the Quaker.

Anonymovs.

9.

I got over the fence, and laid me down in the
shade to rest my limbs, for I was very weary, and
fell asleep; but judge you, if you can, that read
my story, what a surprise I must be in when I
was awakened out of my sleep by a voice calling

12 Dictation Spelling Book.

me by my name several times: '^obin, Bobin^
Robin Crusoe; poor Bobin Crusoe. Where are you,
Bobin Crusoe? Where are you? Where have
you been?'*

But no sooner were my eyes open, but I saw my
Poll sitting on the top of the hedge, and imme-
diately knew that it was he that spoke to me; for
in just such bemoaning language I had used to
talk to him and teaoh him. — Daniel Defoe.

10.

It would have made a Stoic smile to see me and
my little family sit down to dinner. There was
my majesty, the prince and lord of the whole isl-
and ; I had the lives of all my subjects at my ab-
solute command; I could give liberty and take
it away, and no rebels among all my subjects.
Then, too, to see how like a king I dined, all
alone, attended by my servants! Poll, as if he
had been my favorite, was the only person per-
mitted to talk to me. My dog, who was now
grown very old and crazy, sat always at my right
hand; and two cats, one on one side of the table
and one on the other, expecting now and then a
bit from my hand as a mark of especial favor.

Daniel Defoe.

Dictation Spelling Book. 13

11.

I am monarch of all I survey,

My right there is none to dispute;
From the center all round to the sea

I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O solitude ! Where are the charms

That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms,

Than reign in this horrible place.

But the sea-fowl is gone to her nest,

The beast is laid down in his lair,
Even here is a season of rest,

And I to my cabin repair.
There is mercy in every place.

And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace.

And reconciles man to his lot.

WilUam Oowper.

12.

Sir Walter Scott, in lending a book one day to
a friend, cautioned him to be punctual in return-
ing it. "This is really necessary," said the poet,
in apology; "for though many of my friends are

14 Dictation Spelling Booh.

bad arithmeticians^ I observe almost all of them
are excellent book-keepers/' — Anonymous.

13.

The first snow came. How beautiful it was,
falling so silently all day long, all night long, on
the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs of
the living, on the graves of the dead! All white
save the river, that marked its course by a wind-
ing, black line across the landscape ; and the leaf-
less trees, that against the leaden sky now re-
vealed more fully the wonderful beauty and in-
tricacy of their branches. What silence, too, came
with the snow, and what seclusion ! Every sound
was muffled, every noise changed to something
soft and musical. No more tramping hoofs, no
more rattling wheels! Only the chiming sleigh-
bells, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts
of children. — Henry W. Longfellow.

14.

"Have some wine,'* the March Hare said in an
encouraging tone.

Alice looked all round the table, but there was
nothing on it but tea. ^'I don't see any wine,"
she remarked.

Dictation Spelling Book. 15

"There isn't any/' said the March Hare.

"Then it wasn't very civil of you to offer it,"
said Alice angrily.

"It wasn't very civil of you to sit down with-
out being invited/' said the March Hare.

"I didn't know it was your table/' said Alice;
"if s laid for a great many more than three."

'TTour hair wants cutting/' said the Hatter.
He had been looking at Alice for some time with
great curiosity, and this was his first remark.

^Tou should learn not to make personal re-
marks/' Alice said with some severity; "it's very
rude." — Lewis Carroll.

15.

Don't flatter yourself that friendship author-
izes you to say disagreeable things to your in-
timates. On the contrary, the nearer you come
into relation with a person, the more necessary
do tact and courtesy become. Except in cases of
necessity, which are rare, leave your friend to
learn unpleasant truths from his enemies; they
are ready enough to tell them.

Oliver Wendell Holmes.

16 Dictation Spelling Booh.

16.

How sweet and gracious^ even in common speech,
Is that fine sense which men call Oourteey !
Wholesome as air and genial as the light,
Welcome in every clime as breath of flowers, —
It transmutes aliens into trusting friends.
And gives its owner passport round the globe.

James T. Fields.

17.

Grandfather loved a wood-fire far better than
a grate of glowing anthracite, or than the dull
heat of an invisible furnace, which seems to think
that it has done its duty in merely warming the
house. But the wood-fire is a kindly, cheerful,
sociable spirit, sympathizing with mankind, and
knowing that to create warmth is but one of the
good o£Sces expected from it. Therefore it
dances on the hearth, and laughs broadly through
the room, and plays a thousand antics, and
throws a joyous glow over the faces that encircle
it. — NatTianiel Hawthorne.

Dictation Spelling Book. 17

18.

Think every morning, when the sun peeps through
The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the giove,
How jubilant the happy birds renew
Their old melodious madrigals of love!
And when you think of this, remember too,
'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
The waking continent, from shore to shore.
Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, (Birds of Kil-
lingworth.)

19.

Upon a money-lender complaining to Baron
Rothschild that he had lent ten thousand francs
to a person who had gone off to Constantinople
without leaving any acknowledgment of the debt,
the baron said :

"Well, write to him and ask him to send you
the fifty thousand francs he owes you."

"But he owes me only ten," said the money-
lender.

"Precisely," rejoined the Baron, "and he will
write and tell you so, and thus you will get his
acknowledgment of it." — Anonymous.

2

18 Dictation Spelling Booh.

20.

It was one of those spacious farm-houses, with
high-ridged but lowly sloping roofs, built in the
style handed down from the first Dutch settlers;
the low, projecting eaves forming a piazza along
the front, capable of being closed up in bad
weather. Under this were hung flails, harness,
various utensils of husbandry, and nets for fish-
ing in the neighboring river. Benches were built
along the sides for summer use; and a great
spinning-wheel at one end, and a churn at the
other, showed the various uses to which this im-
portant porch might be devoted.

Washington Irving.

21.

The sun does not shine for a favored few, but
for the wide world's joy. The lonely pine on the
mountain-top waves its sombre boughs and cries,
"Thou art my sun!" The little meadow violet
lifts its cup of blue, and whispers with its per-
fumed breath, "Thou art my sun!"

So God sits eflfulgent in Heaven, not for a fa-
vored few, but for the universe of life. There is
no creature so poor or so low that he may not

Dictation Spelling Booh. 19

look up with confidence and say, "Thou art my
Father!" — Henry Ward Beecher.

22.

Where shall we keep the holiday,
And duly greet the entering May?
Too strait and low our cottage doors.
And all unmeet our carpet floors;
No spacious court, nor monarch's hall,
Suffice to hold the festival.
Up and away! where haughty woods
Front the liberated floods.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

23.

I like, on these sunny days, to look into the
Luxembourg Garden; nowhere else is the eye
more delighted with life and color. In the after-
noon, especially, it is a baby-show worth going
far to see. The avenues are full of children,
whose animated play, light laughter, and happy
chatter, and pretty, picturesque dress,, make a
sort of fairy grove of the garden; and all the
nurses of that quarter bring their charges there,
sewing, gossiping, and comparing the merits of
the little dears. One baby differs from another

20 Dictation Spelling Book.

in glory, I suppose ; but I think on such days that
they are all lovely, taken in the mass, and all in
sweet hannony with the delicious atmosphere,
the tender green, and the other flowers of spring.
A baby can't do better than to spend its spring
days in the Luxembourg Garden.

Charles Dudley Wa/rd/ner.

24.

James Russell Lowell says of Abraham Lincoln,
^*He was a man of humble birth and ungainly
manners, of little culture beyond what his own
genius supplied; but he became more absolute in
power than any monarch of modern times,
through the reverence of his countrymen for his
honesty, his wisdom, his sincerity, his faith in
God and man, and the nobly humane simplicity
of his character."

26.

Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these?
Do you ne'er think who made them, and who

taught
The dialect they speak, where melodies
Alone are the interpreters of thought?
Whose household words are songs in many keys

Dictation Spelling Book. 21

Sweeter than instrument of man e'er caught?
Whose habitations in the tree-tops even
Are half-way houses on the road to heaven?
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow^ (Birds of Killing-
worth) .

26./

There were no trees in the neighborhood of the
house where I was bom. It stood in the midst of
grass, and nothing but grass was to be seen for
a long way on every side of it. There was not a
gravel path or a road near it. Its walls, old and
rusty, rose immediately from the grass. Green
blades and a few heads of daisies leaned trusting-
ly against the brown stone, all the sharpness of
whose fractures had long since vanished, worn
away by the sun and the rain, or filled up by the
slow lichens, which I used to think were young
stones growing out of the wall. All about the
house — as far, at least, as my lowly eyes could
see — the ground was perfectly level, and this lake
of greenery, out of which it rose like a solitary
rock, was to me an unfailing mystery and de-
light. — George MacDonald.

22 Dictation Spelling Book.

fe>

Without more delay, the prince leading, the
pair proceeded down through the echoing stair-
way of the tower, and out through the grating,
into the ample air and sunshine of the morning,
and among the terraces and flower-beds of the
garden. They crossed the fish-pond, where the
carp were leaping as thick as bees ; they mounted,
one after another, the various flights of stairs,
snowed upon, as they went, with April blossoms,
and marching in time to the great orchestra of
birds. Nor did they pause till they had reached
the highest terrace of the garden. Here was a
gate into the park, and hard by, under the tuft of
laurel, a marble garden seat. Hence they looked
down on the green tops of many elm-trees, where
the rooks were busy; and beyond that, upon the
palace roof, and the yellow banner flying in the
blue. — Roiert Louis Stevenson.

28.

"Please come back and finish your story!'*
Alice called after the Mouse; and the others all
joined in ohorus, ^Tes, please do !" but the mouse

Dictation Spelling Book. 23

only shook its head impatiently^ and walked a
little quicker.

"What a pity it wouldn't stay!*' sighed the
Lory^ as soon as it was quite out of sight; and
an old crab took the opportunity of saying to
her daughter, "Ah, my dear! Let this be a les-
son to you never to lose your temper !"

"Hold your tongue, Ma!" said the young crab,
a little snappishly. "You're enough to try the
patience of an oyster!"

Alice in Wonderland.

29.

Hark ! 'tis the bluebird's venturous strain,
High on the old fringed elm at the gate-

Sweet-voiced, valiant on the swaying bough.

Alert, elate,
Dodging the fitful spits of snow.
New England's poet-laureate.
Telling us Spring has come again.

Thomas Bailey Aldrich.

As I grew older I became more adventurous;
and one evening, although the shadows were be-
ginning to lengthen, I went on and on until I

24 Dictation Spelling Book.

made a discovery. I found a half-spherical hol-
low in the grassy surface. I rushed into its
depths as it if had been a mine of marvels^ threw
myself on the ground, and gazed into the sky as
if I had now, for the first time, discovered its true
relation to the earth. The earth was a cup, and
the sky its cover. There were lovely daisies in
this hollow — not too many to spoil the grass, and
they were red-tipped daisies. I lay and looked
at them in delight — not at all inclined to pull
them, for they were where I loved to see them.

George MacDonald.

31.

On one occasion a maid asked Dean Swift's per-
mission to attend her sister's wedding. He not
only gave her permission, but lent her a horse
upon which to make the journey, and another
servant to accompany her. In the excitement of
the moment the unfortunate girl forgot to close
the door after her, and Swift, allowing time for
her to get some distance upon her journey, sent
another servant post-haste to fetch her back. In
fear and trembling the poor girl presented herself
before the Dean, asking him what he wanted her
for. "Only to shut the door," was the reply,
"after which you may resume your journey."

AnonymouB.

Dictation Spelling Book. 25

It was, as I have said, a fine autumnal day ; the
sky was clear and serene, and nature wore that
rich and golden livery which we always associate
with the idea of abundance. The forests had put
on their sober brown and yellow, while some trees
of the tenderer, kind had been nipped by the frost
into brilliant dyes of orange, purple, and scarlet.
Streaming files of wild ducks began to make their
appearance high in the air; the bark of the squir-
rel might be heard from the groves of beech and
hickory nuts, and the pensive whistle of the quail
at intervals from the neighboring stubble-fields.

WasMngton Irving.

33.

It must be confessed that a wood fire needs
as much tending as a pair of twins. I would as
soon have an Englishman without side-whiskers
as a fire without a big back log; and I would
rather have no fire than one that required no tend-
ing; — one of dead wood that could not sing again
the imprisoned songs of the forest, or give out, in
brilliant scintillations, the sunshine it absorbed
in its growth. A wood fire on the hearth is a

26 Dictation Spelling Book.

kindler of domestic virtue. It brings in cheerful-
ness and a family center, and, besides, it is ar-
tistic. I should like to know if an artist could
ever represent on canvas a happy family gathered
around a hole in the floor, called a register.

Charles Dudley Warner.

34.

In a poef s room, where his inkstand stood on
the table, the remark was once made, "It is won-
derful what can be brought out of an inkstand."

"Yes, certainly," said the inkstand to the pen
and to the other articles that stood on the table;
"it's quite incredible, and I really don't know
what is coming next when that man dips his pen
into me. One drop of me is enough for half a
page of paper, and what cannot half a page of
paper contain? Prom me, all the works of the
poet are produced ; all those imaginary characters
whom people fancy they have known or met, all
the deep feeling, the humor, and the vivid pictures
of nature. I myself don't understand how it is,
for I am not acquainted with nature, but it cer-
tainly is in me.** — Hans Andersen.

Dictation Spelling Booh. 27

85.

Life is good, and opportunities of becoming
and doing good are always with us. Our house,
our table, our tools, our books, our city, our
country, our language, our business, our profes-
sion, — ^the people who love us and those who hate,
they who help and they who oppose, — ^what is all
this but opportunity? Whatever can help me to
think and love, whatever can give me strength
and patience, whatever can make me humble and
serviceable, though it be a trifle light as air, is
opportunity, whose whim it is to hide in unconsid-
ered things. — John Lancaster Spalding.

36.

Blest be the spot where cheerful guests retire
To pause from toil, and trim their evening fire;
Blest that abode where want and pain repair.
And every stranger finds a ready chair;
Blest be those feasts, with simple plenty crowned.
Where all the ruddy family around,
Laugh at the jests or pranks, that never fail,
Or sigh with pity at some mournful tale.
Or press the bashful stranger to his food.
And learn the luxury of doing good.

OUver ChldtmUth.

28 Dictation Spelling Book.

87.

When we are as yet small cliildi:en, there comes
to us a youthful angel, holding iE^^ his right hand
cubes like dice^ and in his left; spheres like mar-
bles. The cubes are of stainless ivory, and on
each is written in letters of gold — ^Truth. The
spheres are veined and streaked and spotted be-
neath, with a dark crimson flush above, where the
light falls on them, and in a certain aspect we can
make out upon every one of them the three letters,
L, i, e. The child to whom they are offered very
probably clutches at both. The spheres are the
most convenient things in the world; they roll
with the least possible impulse just where the
child would have them. The cubes will not roll
at all ; they have a great talent for standing still
and always keep right-side up.

Oliver Wendell Holmes.

88.

But very soon the young philosopher finds that
things which roll so easily are very apt to roll
into the wrong corner, while he always knows
where to find the others, which stay where they
are left. Thus he learns to drop the streaked and

Dictation Spelling Booh. 29

speckled globes of f alsehood^ and to hold fast the
white, angular blocks of truth. But then comes
Timidity, and after her Good-nature, and last of
all Polite-behavior; and the first with her coarse
rasp, and the second with her broad file, and the
third with her silken sleeve, do so round off and
smooth and polish the snow-white cubes of truth,
that, when they have got a little dingy by use, it
becomes hard to tell them from the rolling spheres
of falsehood. — Oliver Wendell Holmes.

39.

Ceremonies are different in every country; but
true politeness is everywhere the same. Cere-
monies, which take up so much of our attention,
are only artificial helps which Ignorance assumes
in order to imitate Politeness, which is the result
of Good Sense and Good Nature. A person pos-
sessed of these qualities, though he had never
seen a court, is truly agreeable; and if without
them, would continue a clown, though he had been
all his life a gentleman usher. — OUver Goldsmith.

40.

A friend called on the. great sculptor, Michael
Angelo, who was finishing a statue. Sometime

30 Dictation Spelling Booh.

afterward he called again ; the sculptor was still
at his work. His friend, on looking at the flgare,
exclaimed, "Have you been idle since I saw you
last?'^

"By no means," replied the sculptor; "I have
retouched this part, polished that; I have softened
this feature, and brought out this muscle ; I have
given more expression to this lip, and more energy
to this limb."

"Well, well," said the friend, "but all these are
trifles."

"It may be so," replied Angelo, "but recollect
that trifles make perfection, and perfection is no
trifle."— OoWon.

41.

True happiness is of a retired nature, and an
enemy to pomp and noise; it arises in the first
place from the enjoyment of one's self; and in
the next, from the friendship and conversation
of a few select companions. False happiness loves
to be in a crowd and to draw the eyes of the
world upon her; she does not receive any satisfac-
tion from the applause which she gives herself, but
from the admiration which she raises in others.

Joseph Addison.

Dictation Spelling Booh. 31

42.

He was a most extraordinary-looking little gen-
tleman. His cheeks were very round and red, and
might have warranted a supposition that he had
been blowing a refractory fire for the last eight-
and-forty hours; his moustaches curled twice
round like a corkscrew on each side of his mouth,
and his hair, of a curious mixed salt-and-pepper
color, descended far over his shoulders. He was
about six feet in height, and wore a conical point-
ed cap of nearly the same altitude, decorated with
a black feather some three feet long. His doublet
was prolonged behind into something resembling
a violent exaggeration of what is now termed a
"swallow-tail," but was much obscured by the
swelling folds of an enormous cloak.

JoJm Buskm.

43.

I had come to Stratford on a poetical pilgrim-
age. My first visit was to the house where Shakes-
peare was bom, and where, according to tradition,
he was brought up to his father's craft of wool-
combing. It is a small, mean-looking edifice of
wood and plaster, a true nestling-place of genius,

32 Dictation Spelling Booh,

which seems to delight in hatching its offspring in
by-corners. The walls of its squalid chambers are
covered with names and inscriptions in every lan-
guage, by pilgrims of all nations, ranks, and con-
ditions, from the prince to the peasant.

Washington Irving.

44.

A dew-drop falling on the wild sea wave,

Exclaimed in grief, *'I perish in this grave ! "

But in a shell received, that drop of dew

Into a pearl of marvelous beauty grew ;

And happy now, the grace did magnify

Which thrust it forth, as it had feared, to die;

Until again, "I perish quite!'' it said.

Torn by a diver from its ocean bed.

O unbelieving! so it came to gleam

Chief jewel in a monarch's diadem.

From the Persian.

45.

It is a very fine old place, of red brick, softened
by a pale, powdery lichen which has dispersed it-
self with happy irregularity, so as to bring the
red brick into terms of friendly companionship

Dictation Spelling Book. 33

with the limestone ornaments surrounding the
three gables, the windows, and the door-place.
But the windows are patched with wooden panes,
and the door, I think, is like the gate — it is never
opened; how it would groan and grate against
the stone floor if it were I For it is a solid, heavy,
handsome door, and must once have been in the
habit of shutting with a sonorous bang.

George EUot.

"Papa,"_ said Franz, as we were thus engaged,
and he handed me the fibres as I required them,
"are these wild trees or tame trees?''

"Oh, these are wild trees, most ferocious trees,"
laughed Jack, "and we are tying them up lest they
should run away, and in a little while we will
untie them, and they will trot about after us and
give us fruit wherever we go. Oh, we will tame
them; and they shall have a ring through their
noses like the buffalo !'•

"That's not true," replied Franz, gravely, "but
there are wild and tame trees ; the wild ones grow
out in the woods like the crabapples, and the tame
ones in the garden like the pears and peaches at
home. Which are these, papa?"

TTie Swiss Family Boiinson,
3

34 Dictation Spelling Book.

47.

Within the verge of the wood there were colum-
bineS; looking more pale than red, because they
were so modest, and had thought proper to seclude
themselves too anxiously from the sun. The
trailing arbutus hid its precious flowers under
last year's withered leaves, as a mother-bird hides
her young ones. It knew, I suppose, how beauti-
ful and sweet-scented they were. So cunning was
their concealment that the children sometimes
smelt the delicate richness of their perfume be<
fore they knew whence it proceeded.

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

48.

As the sun goes to the horizon, we have an ef-
fect sometimes produced by the best Dutch art-
ists, — a wonderful transparent light, in which the
landscape looks like a picture, with its church-
spires of stone, its wind-mills, its slender trees,
and red-roofed houses. It is a good light and a
good hour in which to enter Bruges, that city of
the past. Once the city was greater than Ant-
werp; and up the Bege came the commerce of the
East; merchants from the Levant, traders in

Dictation Spelling Booh. 35

jewels and silks. Now the tall houses wait for
tenants, and the streets have a deserted air.

Charles Dudley Warner.

49.

It is a base untruth to say that happy is a na-
tion that has no history. Thrice happy is the na-
tion that has a glorious history. Far better it is
to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs,
even though checkered by failure, than to take
rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy
much nor suffer much, because they live in the
gray twilight that knows no defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt.

50.

The prince was early abroad; in the time of
the first chorus of birds, of the pure and quiet
air, of the slanting sunlight and the mile-long
shadows. To one who had passed a miserable
night, the freshness of that hour was tonic and
reviving; to steal a march upon his slumbering
fellows, to be the Adam of the coming day, com-
posed and fortified his spirits; and the prince,
breathing deep and pausing as he went, walked in
the wet fields beside his shadow, and was glad.

Robert Louis Stevenson.

36 Dictation Spelling Book.

Si-
There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar.
1 love not man the less, but nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before.
To mingle with the universe, and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.

Lord Byron.

52.

Cooking means the knowledge of all herbs and
fruits and balms and spices; of all that is healing
and sweet in fields and groves, and savory in
meats; it means carefulness, and inventiveness,
and watchfulness, and willingness, and readiness
of appliance; it means the economy of your great-
grandmothers, and the science of modem chem-
ists; it means much tasting and no wasting; it
means English thoroughness, and French art, and
Arabian hospitality; it means, in fine, that you
are to be perfectly and always "ladies" — "loaf-
givers." — JoJm Riiskin.

Dictation Spelling Book. 37

53.

I see the solemn gulls in council sitting
On some broad ice-floe, pondering long and late,
While overhead the home-bound ducks are flitting,
And leave the tardy conclave in debate.

Those weighty questions in their breasts revolv-
ing.
Whose deeper meaning science never learns.
Till at some reverend elder's look dissolving.
The speechless senate silently adjourns.

Oliver Wendell Holmes.

The fishermen's cottages faced the west; they
were low and wide, not unlike scows drifted
ashore and moored on the beach for houses. The
little windows had gay curtains fluttering in the
breeze, and the rooms within looked clean and
cheery; the rough walls were adorned with the
spoils of the fresh-water seas, — ^shells, green
stones, agate, spar, and curiously shaped peb-
bles; occasionally there was a stuffed water-bird,
or a bright colored print, and always a violin.
Black-eyed children played in the water which

38 Dictation Spelling Booh.

bordered their narrow beach-gardens, and slender
women with shining black hair stood in their
doorways knitting. — Constance F. WooUon.

55.

An ancient story runs that the birds once met
to choose a monarch ; whoever soared the highest
was to reign over them. Up sprang all the birds
into the air, but the highest of all rose the eagle,
who, after mounting until his wearied wings
could beat no more, proclaimed himself the sov-
ereign of the birds. But, all unperceived, the little
wren had been quietly perching upon his shoul-
ders, and as soon as the eagle ceased to mount, he
rose on tiny pinions far above the wearied eagle,
and twittered forth the victory of wit and intel-
lect over bulk and physical strength.

Burt O. Wilder.

56.

The fairy path that we pursue,
Distinguished but by greener hue.

Winds round the purple brae,
While Alpine flowers of varied dye
For carpet serve, or tapestry.
See how the little runnels leap,

Dictation JSpelling Book. 39

In threads of silver, down the steep,

To swell the brooklet's moan !
Seems that the Highland Naiad grieves,
Fantastic while her crown she weaves
Of rowan, birch, and alder leaves.
So lovely, and so lone !- —Sir Walter Scott.

57.

The evening wind made such* a disturbance
among some tall elm-trees at the bottom of the
garden, that we could not forbear glancing that
way. As the elms bent to one another like giants
who were whispering secrets, and after a few sec-
onds of such repose, fell into a violent flurry, toss-
ing their arms about as if their late confidences
were really too wicked for their peace of mind,
some weather-beaten old rooks'-nests burdening
their higher branches swung like wrecks upon a
stormy sea. — Charles Dickens.

58.

What a wonderful order there is in all human
labor! While the husbandman furrows his land,
and prepares for every one his daily bread, the
town artisan, far away, weaves the istuflf in which
he is to be clothed; the miner seeks under the

40 Dictation Spelling Book.

ground the iron for his plough; the soldier de-
fends him against the invader; the judge takes
care that the law protects his fields; the mer-
chant occupies himself in exchanging his products
with those of different countries; the men of
science and of art add every day a few horses to
this ideal team, which draws along the material,
world, as steam impels the gigantic trains of our
iron roads. Thus all unite together, all help one
another; the poorest man included in this asso-
ciation has his place; each is something in the
whole.-^^miZ6 Souvestre. (tr.)

59.

I sat down, and taking the reeds, speedily man-
ufactured half a dozen arrows and feathered
them from the dead flamingo. I then took a strong
bamboo, bent it, and strung it so as to form a
bbk. When the boys saw what I had done they
were delighted, and begged to have the pleasure
of firing the first shot.

"No, no !" said I, "I did not make this for mere
pleasure, nor is it even intended as a weapon.
Elizabeth," I continued to my wife, "can you sup-
ply me with a ball of stout thread from your won-
derful bag?"

"Certainly," replied she, "I think a ball of

Dictation Spelling Book. 41

thread was the first thing to enter the bag," and
diving her hand deep in, she drew out the very
thing I wanted. — The Suoiss Family Rohmson.

60.

Where the brook runs into the first hearing of
the sea, to defer its own extinction, it takes a
lively turn inland, giving a pleasant breadth of
green between itself and its destiny. At the
breath of salt the larger trees hang back, and
turn their boughs up; but plenty of pretty
shrubs come forth, and shade the cottage gar-
dens; neither have the cottage walls any lack of
leafy mantle, where the summer sun works his
own defeat by fostering cool obstructions. For
here are tamarisks, and jassamine, and the old-
fashioned corchorus, flowering all the summer
through, as well as the myrtle, that loves the
shore. — B. D. Blackmore.

61.

The burn kept growing both in force and vol-
ume; and still, at every leap, it fell with heavier
plunges and spun more widely in the pool. Great
had been the labors of that stream, and great and
agreeable the changes it had wrought. It had cut

42 Dictation Spelling Book.

through dykes of stubborn rocks, and now, like
a blowing dolphin, spouted through the orifice;
along all its humbler coasts, it had undermined
and rafted-down the goodlier timber of the for-
est; and on these rough clearings it now set and
tended primrose gardens, and planted woods of
willow, and made a favorite of the silver birch.

Robert Louis Stevenson.

62.

Man is a creature designed for two different
lives. His first is short and transient; his sec-
ond permanent and lasting. The question we are
all concerned in is this: whether we should en-
deavor to secure to ourselves the pleasures and
gratifications of a life that is uncertain and pre-
carious, or to secure the pleasures of a life that is
fixed and settled and will never end.

Joseph Addison.

63.

A Syrian or Arabian pasture is very different
from the narrow meadows knd fenced hillsides
with which we are familiar. It is vast, and often
virtually boundless. By far the greater part of
it is desert — that is, land not absolutely barren.

Dictation Spelling Book. 43

but refreshed by rain for only a few months, and
through the rest of the year abandoned to the pit-
iless sun that sucks all life from the soil. The
landscape is nearly all glare, — ^monotonous levels
or low ranges of hillocks, with as little character
upon them as the waves of the sea, and shimmer-
ing in mirage under a cloudless heaven.

George Admn Smith.

64.

Long lines of cliff breaking have left a chasm ;
And in the chasm are foam and yellow sands ;
Beyond, red roofs above a narrow wharf
In cluster; then a mouldered church; and higher,
A long street climbs to one tall-towered mill ;
And high in heaven behind it a gray down
With Danish barrows; and a hazelwood.
By autumn nutters haunted, flourishes
Green in a cuplike hollow of its own.

Alfred Tennyson.

65.

Many politicians of our time are in the habit of
laying it down as a self-evident proposition that
no people ought to be free till they are fit to use
their freedom. This maxim is worthy of the fool

44' Dictation Spelling Booh.

in the old story, who resolved not to go into the
water till he had learned to swim. If men are to
wait for liberty till they have become wise and
good in slavery, they may, indeed, wait forever.

Thomas B. Macdulay.

66.

You have seen the Rhine in pictures; you have
read its legends. You know, in imagination at
least, how it winds among craggy hills of splen-
did form, turning so abruptly as to leave you
often shut in with no visible outlet from the wall
of rock and forest ; how the castles, some in ruins
as unsightly as any old pile of rubbish, others
with feudal towers and battlements, still perfect,
hang on the crags, or stand sharp against the
sky, or nestle by the stream, or on some lonely isl-
and. You know that the Rhine has been to Gter-
mans what the Nile was to Egyptians, — a, delight,
and the theme of song and story. Here the
Roman eagles were planted ; here Caesar bridged
and crossed the Rhine; and here the French found
a momentary halt to their invasion of Germany,
at different times. — Charles Dudley Warner.

Dictation Spelling Booh, 45

67.

The Star Spangled Banner! Was ever flag so
beautiful, did ever flag so fill the souls of men?
The love of woman ; the sense of duty ; the thirst
for glory; the heart-throbbing that compels the
humblest American to stand by his colors fearless
in the defense of his native soil and holding it
sweet to die for it, — ^the yearning which draws
him to it when exiled from it — its free institu-
tions and its blessed memories, all are embodied
and symbolized by the broad stripes and bright
stars of the nation's emblem.

Henry Wattergon.

*

In all climates Spring is beautiful. The birds
begin to sing; they utter a few rapturous notes,
and then wait for an answer in the silent woods.
Those green-coated musicians, the frogs, make
holiday in the neighboring marshes. They, too,
belong to the Orchestra of Nature, whose vast
theater is again opened, though the doors have
been so long bolted with icicles, and the scenery
hung with snow and frost like cobwebs. This is
the prelude which announces the opening of the

46 Dictation Spelling Book.

scene. Already the grass shoots forth. The
waters leap with thrilling pulse through the
veins of the plants and trees, and the blood
through the veins of man. What a thrill of de-
light in Springtime!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

69.

Not many sounds in life — and I include all
urban and all rural sounds^ — exceed in interest a
knock at the door. It gives a very echo to the
throne where Hope is seated. But its issues sel-
dom answer to this oracle within. It is so seldom
that just the person we want to see comes. But
of all the clamorous visitations, the welcomest in
expectation is the sound that ushers in, or seems
to usher in, a Valentine. — Charles Lamb.

70.

The life of a swarm of bees is like an active
and hazardous campaign of an army. The ranks
are being continually depleted and continually
recruited. What adventures they have by flood
and field, and what hair-breadth escapes! A
strong swarm during the honey season loses, on
an average, about four or five thousand per month.

Dictation Spelling Book. 47

They are overwhelmed by wind and rain, caught
by spiders, benumbed by cold, crushed by cattle,
drowned in rivers or ponds, and in many ways
cut oflf or disabled. — John Burroughs.

71.

A vulgar man is captious and jealous, eager and
impetuous about trifles. He suspects himself to
be slighted, thinks everything that is said meant
at him; if the company happens to laugh, he is
persuaded they laugh at him; he grows angry
and testy, says something impertinent, and
draws himself into a -scrape, by showing what he
calls a proper spirit, and asserting himself.

Lord Chesterfield.

72.

Those who are in the habit of remarking such
matters must have noticed the passive quiet of
an English landscape on Sunday. The clacking
of the mill, the regularly recurring stroke of the
flail, the din of the blacksmith's hammer, the
whistling of the plowman, the rattling of the
cart, and all other sounds of rural labor, are sus-
pended. The very farm dogs bark less frequently,
being less disturbed by passing travelers. At

48 Dictation Spelling Book.

such times I have almost fancied the winds sunk
into quiet, and that the sunny landscape, with
its fresh green tints melting into the blue haze,
enjoyed the hallowed calm.

WasMngton Irving.

73.

Out of a pellucid brook,

Pebbles round and smooth I took;

Like a jewel, every one

Caught a color from the sun,^ —

Ruby red and sapphire blue.

Emerald and onyx, too;

Not a precious stone I missed, —

Gems I held from every land

In the hollow of my hand.

Workman Water these had made
Patiently through sun and shade.
With the ripples of the rill
He had polished them, until
Smooth, symmetrical, and bright.
Each one, sparkling in the light.
Showed within its burning heart
All the lapidary's art;
And the brook seemed thus to sing,
"Patience conquers everything."

Frank Dempster Sherman.

Dictation Spelling Book. 49

,74;

The most complete and healthy sleep that can
be taken in the day is in summer-time, out in the
fields. There is perhaps no solitary sensation so
exquisite as that of slumbering on the grass or
hay, shaded from the hot sun by a tree, with the
consciousness of a fresh but light air running
through the wide atmosphere, and the sky
stretching far overhead upon all sides. Earth
and heaven, and a placid humanity, seem to have
the creation to themselves. There is nothing
between the slumberer and the naked and glad
innocence of nature. — Leigh Hunt.

The youngest brother was as completely op-
posed, in both appearance and character, to his
seniors, as could possibly be imagined or de-
sired. He was not above twelve years old, fair,
blue-eyed, and kind in temper to every living
thing. He was usually appointed to the honor-
able office of turn-spit, when there was anything
to roast, which was not often; for, to do the
br(h±Lers justice, they were hardly less sparing
upon themselves than upon other people. At other

4

50 Dictation Spelling Booh.

times he used to clean the shoes, floors, and some-
times the plates, occasionally getting what was
left on them by way of encouragement, and a
wholesome quantity of dry blows by way of edu-
cation. — John Rushin.

76.

Fritz once more cast his eyes over the expanse
of plain before us, and after looking fixedly for
a moment, exclaimed:

"Is it possible that I see a party of horse-
men riding at full gallop toward us? Can they
be wild Arabs of the desert?"

"Arabs, my boy! Certainly not; but take the
spyglass and make them out exactly. We shall
have to be on our guard, whatever they are!"

"I cannot see distinctly enough to be sure," said
he presently, "and imagination supplies the de-
fijciency of sight in most strange fashion. I could
fancy them wild cattle, loaded carts, wandering
haycocks — in fact, almost anything I like."

The spyglass passed from hand to hand; but
when it came my turn to look, I pronounced
them to be very large ostriches.

The Suoiss Family Robinson.

Dictation Spelling Book. 51

77.

After a rapid survey, the general assigned his
troops their respective quarters, and took as vig-
orous precautions for security, as if he had an-
ticipated a siege instead of a friendly entertain-
ment. The space was encompassed by a stone
wall with towers or heavy buttresses at inter-
vals, affording a good means of defense. He
planted his cannon so as to command the ap-
proaches, stationed his sentinels along the works,
and, in short, enforced as strict military disci-
pline as had been observed in any part of the
march. — William H. Prescott.

78-

The red dawn at last struggled through the
vaporous veil that hid the landscape. Then oc-
curred one of those magical changes peculiar to
the climate, yet perhaps pre-eminently notable
during that historic winter and spring. By ten
o'clock on that 3rd day of May, 1780, a fervent,
June-like sun had rent that vaporous veil, and
poured its direct rays upon the gaunt and hag-
gard profile of the Jersey hills. The chill soil

52 Dictation Spelling Book,

responded but feebly to the kiss; perhaps a few
of the willows that yellowed the river-banks took
on a deeper color. But the country folk were
certain that spring had come at last.

Bret Rarte.

79.

lehabod rode with short stirrups, which
brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of
his saddle; his sharp elbows stuck out like grass-
hoppers; he carried his whip perpendicularly in
his hand, like a scepter ; and, as his horse jogged
on, the motion of his arms was not unlike the
flapping of a pair of wings. A small wool hat
rested on the top of his nose — for so his scanty
strip of forehead might be called — ^and the skirts
of his black coat fluttered out almost to the
horse's tail. — Washington Irving.

80.

There is nothing which we receive with so
much reluctance as advice. We look upon the
man who gives it as offering an affront to our
understanding, and treating us as children or
idiots. We consider the instruction as implicit

Dictation Spelling Book. 53

censure, and the zeal which any one shows for our
good on such occasion, as a piece of presump-
tion or impertinence. — Joseph Addison.

81.

The highroads in rural England are made
pleasant to the traveler by a border of trees, and
often afford him the hospitality of a wayside
bench beneath a comfortable shade. But a
fresher delight is to be found in the footpaths,
which go wandering away from stile to stile,
along hedges, and across broad fields, and through
wooded parks, leading you to little hamlets of
thatched cottages, ancient, solitary farm-houses,
picturesque old mills, streamlets, pools, and all
those quiet, secret, unexpected, yet strangely fa-
maliar features of English scenery that Tenny-
son shows us in his idylls and eclogues.

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

82.

As we lived near the road, we often had the
traveler or stranger visit us to taste our goose-
berry wine, for which we had great reputation;
and I profess, with the veracity of an historian,
that I never knew one of them to find fault with

54 Dictation Spelling Book.

it. Our cousins, too, even to the fortieth remove,
all remembered their affinity, without any help
from the herald's office, and came very frequent-
ly to see us. Some of them did us no great honor
by these claims of kindred; however, my wife
always insisted that, as they were the same flesh
and blood, they should sit with us at the same
table. So that, if we had not very rich, we gen-
erally had very happy friends about us; and as
some men gaze with admiration at the colors of
a tulip or the wing of a butterfly, so I was by
nature an admirer of happy human faces.

OUver (Goldsmith.

83.

The night fell upon the prince while he was
treading green tracks in the lower valleys of the
wood; and though the stars came out overhead
and displayed the interminable order of the pine-
tree pyramids, regular and dark like cypresses,
their light was of small service to a traveler in
such lonely paths, and from thenceforth he rode
at random. The austere face of nature, the un-
certain issue of his course, the open sky and the
free air, delighted him like wine; and the hoarse
chafing of a river on his left sounded in his ears
agreeably. — Robert Louis Stevenson.

Dictation Spelling Booh, 55

84.

Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driying o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight; the whited air
Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven.
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveler stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, the housemates sit
Around the radiant fire-place, enclosed
In a tumultous privacy of storm.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

85.
As good almost kill a man as kill a good book.
Many a man lives a burden to the earth ; but a
good book is the precious life-blood of a master
spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose, to
a life beyond life. — John Milton,

I have ever gained the most profit, and the
most pleasure also, from the books which have
made me think the most; and, when the diffi-
culties have once been overcome, these are the
books which have struck the deepest root, not
only in my memory and understanding, but like-
wise in my affections. — Anonymous,

56 Dictation Spelling Book.

86.

Six days of hard and incessant toil made but
little impression on the face of the cliff; but we
still did not despair, and were presently reward-
ed by coming to softer and more yielding sub-
stance; our work progressed, and our minds were
relieved.

On the tenth day, as our persevering blows
were falling heavily. Jack, who was working dili-
gently with a hammer and crowbar, shouted: .

"Gone, father! Fritz, my bar has gone
through the mountain!"

"Run round and get it," laughed Fritz; "per-
haps it has dropped into Europe, — ^you must not
lose a good crowbar."

"But, really, it is though ; it went right through
the rock; I heard it crash down inside. Oh, do
come and see !" he shouted excitedly.

The Swiss Family Robinson.

87.

The summer had come before the tardy spring
was quite gone, and the elms before the window
no longer lisped, but were eloquent in the softest
zephyrs. There was the flash of birds in among

Dictation Spelling Booh. 57

the bushes, the occasional droning of bees in and
out'the open window, and a perpetually swinging
censer of flower incense rising from below.

The farm had put on its gayest bridal raiment;
and, looking at the old farm-house shadowed with
foliage and green creeping vines, it was difficult
to conceive that snow had ever lain on its
porches, or icicles hung from its mossy eaves.

Bret Harte.

88.

The art in which the Mexicans most delighted
was their feather work. With this they could
produce all the effect of a beautiful mosaic. The
gorgeous plumage of the tropical birds, especially
of the parrot tribe, afforded every variety of
color; and the fine down of the humming bird,
which reveled in swarms among the honeysuckle
bowers of Mexico, supplied them with soft aerial
tints that gave an exquisite finish to the picture.
The feathers, pasted on a fine cotton web, were
wrought into dresses for the wealthy, hangings
for apartments, and ornaments for the temples.
No one of the American fabrics excited such ad-
miration in Europe, whither numerous specimens
were sent by the Conquerors. It is to be regretted
that so graceful an art should have been suffered
to decay. — WilUam H. Preacott.

58 Dictation Spelling Booh.

89.

No hero of ancient or modern days can surpass
the Indian in his lofty contempt of death, and
the fortitude with which he sustains its crudest
afflictions. Indeed, we here behold him rising
superior to the white man, in consequence of his
peculiar education. The latter rushes to glori-
ous death at the cannon's mouth, the former calm-
ly contemplates its approach and triumphantly
endures it, amidst the varied torments of sur-
rounding foes, and the protracted agonies of fire.

WasMagton Irving.

90.

Honor the soul; truth is the beginning of all
good; and the greatest of all evils is self-love;
and the worst penalty of evil-doing is to grow
into likeness with the bad; for each man's soul
changes, according to the nature of his deeds, for
better or for worse. — Plato.

Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and perfect man.
Commands all light, all influence, all fate ;
Nothing to him falls early or too late ;
Our acts our angels are, or good or ill,
Our fatal shadows that walk by us still.

Beaumont and Fletcher.

Dictation Spelling Book. 59

91.

The thirtieth of July was come .... Nature
seems to make a pause just then — ^all the loveliest
flowers are gone, the sweet time of early growth
and vague hopes is past ; and yet the time of har-
vest and ingathering is not come, and we tremble
at the possible storms that may ruin the precious
fruit in the moment of its ripeness. The woods
are all one dark, monotonous green ; wagon-loads
of hay no longer creep along the lanes, scattering
their sweet-smelling fragments on the blackberry
branches; the pastures are often a little tanned,
yet the com has not got its last splendor of red
and gold; the lambs and calves have lost all
traces of their innocent, frisky prettiness, and
have become stupid young sheep and cows.

Oeorge Eliot

92.

All seasons shall be sweet to thee.
Whether the summer clothe the genial earth
With greenness, or the redbreast sit and sing
Betwixt the tufts of snow on the bare branch
Of mossy apple-tree, while the nigh thatch
Smokes in the sun-thaw; whether the eave-drops
fall,

60 Dictation Spelling Book.

Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the shining moon. '

Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

93.

Be your character what it will, it will be
known ; and nobody will take it upon your word.
Never imagine that anything you can say your-
self will varnish your defects or add luster to
your perfections; but, on the contrary, it may
make the former more glaring, and the latter
more obscure. If you are silent upon your own
subject, neither envy, indignation, nor ridicule
will obstruct or allay the applause which you
may really deserve. — Lord Chesterfield.

94.

By this time the strong sunshine pierced in a
thousand places the pine-thatch of the forest,
fired the red boles, irradiated the cool aisles of
shadow, and burned in jewels on the grass. The
gum of these trees was dearer to the senses than
the gums of Araby : each pine, in the lusty morn-
ing sunlight, burned its own wood-incense; and

Dictation Spelling Booh. 61

now and then a breeze would rise, and toss these
rooted censers, and send shade and sun-gem flit-
ting swift as swallows, thick as bees; and make
a brushing bustle of sounds that murmured and
went by. — Robert Louis Stevenson.

And there were in the same country shepherds
abiding dn the field, keeping watch over their
flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord
came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone
round about them; and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, "Fear not; for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is
bom this day in the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord ; and this shall be a sign
unto you: ye shall find the babe wrapped in
swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a mul-
titude of the heavenly host, praising God, and
saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on
earth peace, good will toward men." — St. Luke.

62 Dictation Spelling Book.

96.

Every man hath two birthdays; two days, at
least, in every year, which set him upon revolving
the lapse of time, as it affects his mortal dura-
tion. The one is that which in an especial man-
ner he termeth his. In the gradual desuetude of
all observances, this custom of solemnizing our
proper birthday hath nearly passed away, or is
left to children, who reflect nothing at all about
the matter, nor understand anything in it beyond
cake and orange. But the birth of a New Year is
of an interest too wide to be pretermitted by king
or cobbler. No one ever regarded the first of
January with indifference. — Charles Lamb.

">- .

Every thing hath two handles ; the one soft and
manageable, the other such as will not endure to
be touched. If then your brother do you an in-
jury, do not take it by the hot and hard handle,
by representing to yourself all the aggravating
circumstances of the fact ; but look rather on the
soft side, and extentuate it as much as possible,
by considering the nearness of the relation, and
the long friendship and familiarity between you

Dictation /Spelling Book. 63

— obligations to kindness which a single provoca-
tion ought not to dissolve. And thus you will
take the accident by the manageable handle.

Epictetus.

98.

The eye, partaking of the quickness of the flash-
ing light, saw in its every gleam a multitude of
objects which it could not see at steady noon in
fifty times that period. Bells in steeples, with
the rope and wheel that moved them ; ragged nests
of birds in cornices and nooks; faces full of con-
sternation in the tilted wagons that came tearing '
past, their frightened teams ringing out a warn-
ing which the thunder drowned; harrows and
plows left in the fields ; miles upon miles of hedge-
divided country, with the distant fringe of trees,
as obvious as the scarecrow in the bean-field close
at hand; in a trembling, vivid, flickering instant,
everything was clear and plain; then came a
flush of red into the yellow light; a change to
blue; a brightness so intense that there was noth-
ing else but light ; and then the deepest and pro-
foundest darkness. — Charles Dickens.

64 Dictation Spelting Book.

99.

On one of those sober and rather melancholy
days in the latter part of autumn, when the
shadows of morning and evening almost mingle
together, and throw a gloom over the decline of
the year, I passed several hours in rambling about
Westminster Abbey. There was something con-
genial to the season in the mournful magnificence
of the old pile; and as I passed its threshold, it
seemed like stepping back into the regions of an-
tiquity, and losing myself among the shades of
former ages. — Washington Irvmg.

100.

I paused to contemplate a tomb on which lay
the eflBgy of a knight in complete armor; the
hands were pressed together in supplication upon
the breast; the face was almost covered by the
morion; the legs were crossed, in token of the
warrior's having been engaged in the holy wars.
It was the tomb of a crusader, — of one of those
military enthusiasts who so strangely mingled
religion and romance, and whose exploits form
the connecting link between fact and fiction, be-
tween the history and the fairy-tale. —

Waahmgton Irvmg.

Dictation Spelling Book. 65

Was Raphael, think you, when he painte^ his
pictures of the Virgin and Child in $ill their in-
conceivable truth and beauty of expression, think-
ing most of his subject, or of himself? po you
suppose that Titian, when he painted a landscape,
was pluming himself on being thought the fbiest
colorist in the world, or making himself so by
looking at nature? Do you imagine that Shakes-
peare, when he wrote "Lear" and "Othello" was
thinking of anything but "Lear" and "Othello?"
No : he who would be great in the eyes of others
must first learn to be nothing in his own. The
love of fame, as it enters at times into his mind,
is only anoth^ name for the love of excellence;
or it is the ambition to attain the highest excel-
\ lence, sanctioned by the highest authority.

William Hazlitt.

102.

First of all, I tell you earnestly and authorita-
tively that you must get into the habit of look-
ing intensely at words, and assuring yourself of
their meaning, syllable by syllable — nay, letter
by letter. The study of books is called literature,

5

66 Dictation Spelling Book.

and a man versed in it is called, by consent of
nations, a man of letters, instead of a man of
books or words. You might read all the books
in the British Museum, and remain an utterly il-
literate, uneducated person; but if you read ten
pages of a good book, letter by letter, that is to
say, with real accuracy, you are forevermore in
some measure an educated person.

Jolm Ruskin,

103.

Inasmuch as the rabbits had soft banks of
herb and vivid moss to sit upon, sweet crisp grass
and juicy clover for unlabored victuals — as well
as a thousand other nibbles which we are too
gross to understand — ^and for beverage not only
all the abundance of the brook, (whose brilliance
might taste of men,) but also a little spring of
their own, which came out of its hole like a rab-
bit ; and then for scenery all the sea, with strange
things running over it, as well as a great park
of their own, having countless avenues of rush,
ragwort, and thistle-stump — ^where would they
have deserved to be, if they had not been con-
tent? — R. D. Blackmore.

Dictation Spelling Booh, 67

104.

Berry picking was near enough to hunting and
fishing to enlist me when a boy. There was some-
thing of the excitement of the chase in the occu-
pation, and something of the charm and precious-
ness of game about the trophies. The pursuit
had its surprises, its expectancies, its sudden dis-
closures — in fact, its uncertainties. I went forth
adventurously. I could wander free as the wind.
Then there were moments of inspiration; for it
always seemed a felicitous stroke to light upon a
particularly fine spot, as it does when one takes an
old and wary trout. — John Burroughs.

105.

Breathes there a man with soul so dead.
Who never to himself hath said,
"This is my own — my native land!"
Whose heart within him ne'er hath burned,
As home his foot-steps he hath turned.
From wandering on a foreign strand ;
If such there breathes, go mark him well!
For him no minstrePs raptures swell.
High though his titles, proud his name.
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, —

68 Dictation Spelling Booh,

Despite those titles, power, and pelf.
The wretch, concentered all in self,
Living shall forfeit fair renown.
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.

Sir Walter Scott

106.

"Well, my little fellows," began the doctor,
drawing himself up with his back to the fire, the
chisel in one hand and his coat-tails in the other,
and his eyes twinkling as he looked them over,
"what makes you so late?"

"Please, sir, we've been out Bigside hare-and-
hounds, an^ lost our way."

"Hah! You couldn't keep up, I suppose?"

"Well, sir," said East, stepping out, and not
liking that the doctor should think lightly of his
running powers, "we got round Barby all right,
but then—"

"Why, what a state you're in, my boy !" inter-
rupted the doctor, as the pitiful condition of
East's garments was revealed to him.

"That's the fall I got, sir, in the road," said
East, looking down at himself. — Thos. Hughes,

Dictation Spelling Book. 69

107.

A tyrant king-bird is poised on the topmost
branch of a veteran pear tree; and now and then
dashes, assassin-like, upon some homebound,
honey-laden bee, and then, with a smack of his
bill, resumes his predatory watch.

A chicken lies in the sun, with a wing and a
leg stretched out, — lazily picking at a gravel, or
relieving its ennui from time to time with a spas-
piodic rustle of its feathers. An old matronly
hen stalks about the yard, with a sedate step ; and
with quiet self-assurance she utters an occasion-
al sieries of hoarse and heated clucks.

Donald O. Mitchell.

108.

The village was one of those sequestered spots
which still retain some vestiges of old English
customs. It had its rural festivals and holiday
pastimes, and still kept up some faint observance
of the once popular rites of May. These, indeed,
had been promoted by its present pastor. Under
his auspices the may-pole stood from year to year

in the center of the village green

The picturesque situation of the village, and the

70 Dictation Spelling Book.

fancif Illness of its rustic f^tes, would often attract
the notice of casual visitors. — Wdshington Irving,

109.

The chest had been full to the brim, and we
spent the whole day in a scrutiny of its contents.
There had been nothing like order or arrange-
ment. Everything had been heaped in promis-
cuously. In coin there was rather more than four
hundred and fifty thousand dollars — estimating
the value of the pieces as accurately as we could
by tables of the period. There were diamonds —
some of them exceedingly large and fine ; eighteen
rubies of remarkable brilliancy; three hundred
and ten emeralds, all very beautiful ; and twenty-
one sapphires, with an opal. The settings ap-
peared to have been beaten up with hammers to
prevent identification. — Edgar Allan Poe.

110.

Every one has heard of the Spartan youth who
hid the stolen fox under his coat, and allowed it
to tear out his vitals rather than expose it to
view. Girls were trained in athletic exercises
nearly similar to those of the boys, but separate-
ly. This reared a race of vigorous women, the in-

Dictation Spelling Book, 71

fluence of whose patriotism in sustaining that of
the men is matter of historic celebrity. "Return
either with your shield or on it!" was the ex-
hortation of a Spartan mother to her son on his
departure for the field of battle. — Wm. Swinton.

111.

But let me first tell of the rooms in which the
masquerade was held. There were seven — an im-
perial suite. In many palaces, however, such
suites from a long and straight vista, so that the
view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded.
Here the case was very different, as might have
been expected from th prince's love of the
MzaiTe. The apartments were so irregularly dis-
posed that the vision embraced but little more
than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at
every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a
novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle
of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window
looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued
the windings of the suite. — Edgar Allan Poe.

72 Dictation Spelling Book.

112.

The spacious firmament on high,

With all the blae, ethereal sky,

And spangled heavens, a shining frame,

Their great Original proclaim.

The unwearied sun, from day to day.

Does his Creator's power display,

And publishes to every land,

The work of an almighty hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail.
The moon takes up the wondrous tale.
And nightly, to the listening earth.
Repeats the story of her birth ;
While all the stars that round her bum,
And all the planets in their turn.
Confirm the tidings as they roll.
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

Joseph Addison.

113.

About half a league from the little seaport of
Palos, in the province of Andalusia, in Spain,
stands a convent dedicated to St. Mary. Some
time in the year 1486, a poor wayfaring stranger,

Dictation Spelling Book, 73

accompanied by a small boy, makes his appear-
ance on foot at the gate of the convent, and begs
of a porter a little bread and water for his child.
This friendless stranger is Columbus. Brought up
in the hardy pursuit of a mariner, — occasionally
serving in the fleets of his native country, — ^with
the burden of fifty years upon his frame, the un-
protected foreigner makes his suit to the sov-
ereigns of Portugal and Spain. He tells them
tl^at the broad, flat earth on which we tread is
round; and he proposes, with what seems a sac-
rilegious hand, to lift the veil which had hung
from the creation of the world over the bounds of
the ocean. — Edward Everett.

114.

The fancied land proved to be nothing but an
evening cloud, and had vanished in the night.
With dejected hearts they once more resumed
their western course, from which Columbus would
never have varied, but in compliance with their
clamorous wishes.

For several days they continued on with the
same propitious breeze, tranquil sea, and mild, de-
lightful weather. The water was so calm that the
sailors amused themselves with swimming about
the vessel. Dolphins began to abound, and flying

74 Dictation Spelling Book.

fish, darting into the air, fell upon the decks. The
continued signs of land diverted the attention of
the crews, and insensibly beguiled them onward.

Washington Irving.

115.

When the Europeans first touched the shores of
America, it was as if they had alighted on an-
other planet. They were introduced to new va-
rieties of plants, and to unknown races of ani-
mals; while man, the lord of all, was equally
strange in complexion, language, and institutions.
It was what they emphatically styled it, — a "New
World.'' Taught by their faith to derive all cre-
ated beings from one source, they felt a natural
perplexity as to the manner in which these dis-
tant and insulated regions could have obtained
their inhabitants. The same curiosity was felt by
their countrymen at home, and the European scholars
bewildered their brains with speculations on the
best way of solving this interesting problem.

William H. Prescott.

Dictation Spelling Book. 75

116.

The mountains wooded to the peak, the lawns
And winding glades high up, like ways to heaven,
The slender coco's drooping crown of plumes,
The lightning flash of insect and of bird,
The luster of the long convolvuleses
That coiled around the stately stems, and ran
Even to the limit of the land, the glows
And glories of the broad belt of the world, —
All these he saw ; but what he fain had seen
He could not see, the kindly human face.

Alfred Tennyson.

117.

My aunt was a tall, hard-featured lady, but by
no means ill-looking. There was an inflexibility
in her face, in her voice, in her gait and carriage,
amply sufficient to account for the effect she had
made upon a gentle creature like my mother; but
her features were rather handsome than other-
wise, though unbending and austere. Her dress
was of a lavender color and perfectly neat; but
scantily made, as if she desired to be as little en-
cumbered as possible. I remember that I thought

76 Dictation Spelling Book.

it, in form, more like a riding habit with the su-
perflnoaa skirt cut off, than anything else.

Charles Dickens,

118.

On going down in the morning, I found my
aunt musing so profoundly over the breakfast-
table, with her elbow on the tray, that the con-
tents of the urn had overflowed the teapot and
were laying the whole table-cloth under water,
when my entrance put her meditations to flight.
I felt sure that I had been the subject of her re-
flections and was more than ever anxious to know
her intentions toward me. Yet I dared not ex-
press my anxiety, lest it should give her offense.

Charles Dickens,

119.

When she had fluished her breakfast, my aunt
very deliberately leaned back in her chair, knitted
her brows, folded her arms, and contemplated me
at her leisure, with such a fixedness of attention
that I was quite overpowered by embarrassment.
Not having as yet finished my own breakfast, I
attempted to hide my confusion by proceeding

Dictation Spelling Book. 77

with it; but my knife tumbled over my fork, my
fork tripped up my knife, I chipped bits of bacon
a surprising height into the air instead of cutting
them for my own eating, and choked myself with
my tea, which persisted in going the wrong way
instead of the right one, until I gave in altogether,
and sat blushing under my aunt's close scrutiny.

Charles Dickens.

120.

One is sometimes asked by young people to rec-
ommend a course of reading. My advice would
be, that they should confine themselves to the su-
preme books in whatever literature, or, still better,
choose some one great author, and make them-
selves thoroughly familiar with him. For, as all
roads lead to Rome, so do they likewise lead away
from it ; and you will find that, in order to under-
stand perfectly and weigh exactly any vital piece
of literature, you will be gradually and pleasantly
persuaded to excursions and explorations of
which you little dreamed when you began, and
you will find yourselves scholars before you are
aware. — James Russell Lowell.

78 Dictation Spelling Book.

121.

"My dear sir," said Scrooge, quickening his
pace and taking the old gentleman by both his
hands, "how do you do? A merry Christmas to
you, sir!"

"Mr. Scrooge?"

"Yes," said Scrooge. "That is my name, and I
fear it may not be pleasant to you. Allow me to
ask your pardon. And will you have the good-
ness — " Here Scrooge whispered in his ear.

"Lord bless me!" cried the gentleman, as if his
breath were taken away. "My dear Mr. Scrooge,
are you serious?"

"If you please," said Scrooge, "not a farthing
less. A great many back-payments are included
in it, I assure you. Will you do me that favor?"

"My dear sir,*' said the other, shaking hands
with him, "I don't know what to say to such mu-
nificence." — Charles Dickens.

122.

And now the music struck up, and the glorious
country dance, best of all dances, began. That
merry stamping, that gracious nodding of the
head, that waving bestowal of the hand — ^where

Dictation Spelling Booh, 79

can we see them now? That simple dancing of
well-covered matrons, laying aside for an hour
the cares of house and dairy, remembering but
not affecting youth, not jealous but proud of the
young maidens by their side — that holiday
sprightliness of portly husbands paying little
compliments to their wives, as if their courting
days were come again — ^those lads and lasses, a
little confused and awkward with their parents,
having nothing to say — it would be a pleasant va-
riety to see all that sometimes. — George EUot.

123.

The most fascinating figure in the history of
Scotland is Mary Stuart. Her nature must have
combined imagination, taste, sensibility, intel-
lectual power, deep feeling, and a certain joyous,
passionate abandonment akin to recklessness.
Even at the distance of centuries from her death,
he name arouses the liveliest emotions, and for
her sake many a place in England and Scotland
is now a shrine of sorrowful pilgrimage and pious
reverence. Some persons believe the best of her,
and some believe the worst; but, irrespective of
all belief, the world is eonscioas of her strange

allurement, of her abiding, incessant charm.

WilUam Winter.

80 Dictation JSpelling Book.

124.

Two small aisles on each side of this chapel
present a touching instance of the equality of
the grave, which brings down the oppressor to a
level with the oppressed, and mingles the dust of
the bitterest enemies together. In one is the sep-
ulchre of the haughty Elizabeth; in the other is
that of her victim, the lovely and unfortunate
Mary. Not an hour in the day but some ejacula-
tion of pity is uttered over the fate of the latter,
mingled with indignation at her oppressor. The
walls of Elizabeth's sepulchre continually echo
with the sighs of sympathy heaved at the grave
of her rival.

A peculiar melancholy reigns over the aisle
where Mary lies buried. The light struggles dim-
ly through windows darkened by dust. A mar-
ble figure of Mary is stretched upon the tomb,
round which is an iron railing, much corroded,
bearing her national emblem — the thistle.
Washington Irving (Westminster Abbey).

Dictation Spelling Book. 81

125.

Every day of my life makes me feel more and
more how seldom a fact is accurately stated;
how, almost invariably, when a story has passed
through the mind of a third person, ij; becomes, so
far as regards the impression that it makes in
further repetitions, little better than a falsehood ;
and this, too, though the narrator be the most
truth-seeking person in existence.

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

126.

Just then Mr. Holbrook appeared at the door,
rubbing his hands in a very effervescence of hos-
pitality. He looked more like my idea of Don
Quixote than ever, and yet the likeness was only
external. His respectable housekeeper stood mod-
estly at the door to bid us welcome; and while
she led the elder ladies upstairs to a bedroom, I
begged to look about the garden. My request evi-
dently pleased the old gentleman, who took me
all around th^ place, and showed me his six-and-
twen ty cows, named after' the different letters of
the alphabet. As we went along, he surprised me
occasionally by repeating apt and beautiful quota-

6

82 Dictation Spelling Book.

tions from the poets, ranging easily from Shakes-
peare and George Herbert to those of our own
day. — Mrs. Qaskell.

127.

The school-house stood in a rather lonely, but
pleasant situation, just at the foot of a woody
hill, with a brook running close by, and a formid-
able birch tree growing at one end of it. From
thence the low murmur of his pupils' voices, con-
ning over their lessons, might be heard on a
drowsy summer's day, like the hum of a bee-hive ;
interrupted now and then by the authoritative
voice of the master, in the tone of menace or com-
mand; or, peradventure, by the appalling sound
of the birch, as he urged some tardy loiterer along
the flowery path of knowledge.

Washington Irving.

128.

Of all the beasts that graze the lawn or hunt
the forest, a dog is the only animal that, leaving
his fellows, attempts to cultivate the friendship
of man ; to man he looks for assistance in all his
necessities, with a speaking eye — exerts for him
all the little service in his power with cheerful-

Dictation Spelling Book, 83

neas and pleasure; for him bears famine and fa-
tigue with patience and resignation; no injuries
can abate his fidelity, no distress induce him to
forsake his benefactor; studious to please, and
fearing to offend, he is still a humble, steadfast
dependent, and in him alone, fawniog is not flat-
tery. — Oliver Goldsmith.

129.

Anybody may pass, any day, in the thronged
thoroughfares of the metropolis, some meager,
wrinkled, yellow old man, creeping along with a
scared air, as though bewildered and a little
frightened by the noise and bustle. This old man
is always a little old man. His coat is of a color
and cut that never was the mode anywhere, at any
period. Clearly, it was not made for him, nor for
any individual mortal. It has large dull metal
buttons, similar to no other buttons. This old
man wears a hat, a thumbed and napless, and yet
an obdurate hat, which has never adapted itself
to the shape of his poor head. His coarse shirt
and his coarse neckcloth have no more individ-
uality than his coat and hat ; they have the same
character of not being his — of not being any-
body's. — Charles Dickens.

84 Dictation Spelling Book,

130.

A very old house once stood in a street with
several that were quite new and clean. The date
of its erection had been carved on one of the
beams, and surrounded by scrolls formed of tu-
lips and hop-tendrils. By this date it could be
seen that the old house was nearly three hundred
years old. Verses, too, were written over the
windows in old-fashioned letters, and grotesque
faces, curiously carved, grinned at you from un-
der the cornices. One story projected a long way
over the other, and under the roof ran a leaden
gutter, with a dragon's head at the end. The
other houses in the street were new and well-built,
with large window-panes and smooth walls. Any
one could see they had nothing to do with the old
house. Perhaps they thought, "How long will
that heap of rubbish remain here to be a disgrace
to the whole street? The parapet projects so far
forward that no one can see out of our windows
what is going on in that direction. It is really
ridiculous." — Haris Andersen.

Dictation Spelling Booh. 85

131.

There is an old story in the East, of a man jour-
neying, who met a dark and dread apparition.
"Who are you?" said the traveler, accosting the
specter. "I am the Plague," it replied. "And
where are you going?" rejoined the traveler. "I
am going to Damascus to kill three thousand
human beings," said the specter.

Two months afterwards, the man returning met
the same specter at the same point. "False spirit,"
said he, "why dost thou deal with me in lies?
Thou didst declare that thou wert going to slay
three thousand at Damascus, and lo, thou hast
slain thirty thousand!" "Friend," replied the
apparition, "be not over hasty in thy judgment;
I killed but my three thousand; Fear killed the
res t." — Anonymous.

132.

The party would willingly have stopped some
time here on the declivity of the hill, to enjoy the
extensive prospect before them, had they not been
apprehensive of the dampness of the grass. "How
delightful it would be," exclaimed some one, "if
we had a Turkey carpet to lay down here !" The
wish was scarcely expressed when the man in the

86 Dictation Spelling Book.

gray coat put his hand in his pocket, and, with a
modest and even humble air, pulled out a rich
Turkey carpet embroidered in gold. The servant
received it as a matter of course, and spread it
out on the desired spot; and without any cere-
mony, the company seated themselves on it. Con-
founded by what I saw, I gazed again at the man,
his pocket, and the carpet, which was more than
twenty feet in length and ten in breadth, and
rubbed my eyes, not knowing what to think, par-
ticularly as no one saw anything extraordinary
in the matter. — Adelbert von Chamisso. (tr.)

133.

There, beside the fireplace, the brave old gen-
eral used to sit. He seemed away from us, al-
though we saw him but a few yards off; remote,
though we passed close beside his chair; unat-
tainable, though we might have stretched forth
our hands and touched his own. It might be that
he lived a more real life within his thoughts, than
amid the inappropriate environment of the Col-
lector's oflSce. The evolutions of the parade; the
tumult of battle; the flourish of old, heroic mu-
sic, heard thirty years before; — such scenes and
sounds, perhaps, were all alive before his intel-
lectual sense. — Nathaniel Hawthorne.

IHctation Spelling Book. 87

134.

Now came still evening on, and twilight gray
Had in her sober livery all things clad ;
Silence accompanied ; for beast and bird —
They to their grassy couch, these to their nests,
Were slunk, all but the wakeful nightingale ;
She all night long her amorous discants sung;
Silence was pleased ; Hesperus, that led
The starry host, rode brightest, till the moon,
Rising in clouded majesty, at length
Apparent queen, unveiled her peerless light,
And o'er the dark her silver mantle threw.

JoJm Milton.

135.

The remarkable person called by the title of
"Old Mortality" was well known in Scotland
about the end of the eighteenth century. His real
name was Robert Paterson. He was a native, it
is said, of the parish of Closebum, and probably
d mason by profession — at least educated to the
use of the chisel. Whether family discussions, or
the deep and enthusiastic feeling of supposed
duty, drove him to leave his dwelling, and adopt
the singular mode of life in which he waud^red,

88 Dictation Spelling Book.

is not known. It could not be poverty, however,
which prompted his journeys, for he never accept-
ed anything beyond the hospitality willingly ten-
dered him, and when that was not proffered, he
always had money enough to provide for his own
humble wants. — Sir Walter Scott.

136.

Paul Dombey grew to be nearly five years old.
He was a pretty little fellow, though there was
something wan and wistful in his small face that
gave occasion to many significant shakes of his
old nurse's head, and many long-drawn inspira-
tions of his old nurse's breath. His temper gave
abundant promise of being imperious in after life ;
and he had as hopeful an apprehension of his own
importance, and the rightful subservience of all
other persons and things to it, as heart could de-
sire. He was childish and sportive enough at
times; but he had a strange, old-fashioned,
thoughtful way at other times, of sitting brood-
ing in his miniature arm-chair. — Charles Dickens.

Dictation Spelling Book. 89

137.

One exquisite painting of the Adoration, in
Venice, I think, shows camel heads stretching

above the slaves in glittering array, who march
in with vessels of silver and of gold. They bear
vases, ewers, and censers of flaming metal. There
are feather fans and gorgeous umbrellas, parrots
and peacocks, reminders of tributes oflfered before-
time at the lion-guarded throne of Solomon. The
sweeping robes of silk, brocaded with gold, and
ermine manfles of the Kings, fairly shine on the
canvas, and the diadems sparkle as though set
with actual gems. — Mrs. Lew Wallace.

138.

And now they could see the Sirens, on Anthe-
mousa, the flowery isle ; three fair maidens sitting
on the beach, beneath a red rock in the setting
sun, among beds of crimson poppies and golden
asphodel ; slowly they sung, and sleepily, with sil-
ver voices mild and clear, which stole over the
golden waters, and into the hearts of all the he-
roes, in spite of Orpheus' song. And as they lis-
tened, the oars fell from their hands, and their

90 Dictation Spelling Booh,

heads drooped on their breasts, and they closed
their heavy eyes ; and they dreamed of bright still
gardens, and of slumbers under murmuring pines,
till all their toil seemed foolishness, and they
thought of their renown no more.

Charles Kingsley.

139.

The air had been warm and transparent
through the whole of the bright day. Shining
metal spires and church-roofs, distant and rarely
seen, had sparkled in the view; and the snowy
mountain-tops had been so clear that unaccus-
tomed eyes, cancelling the intervening country,
and slighting their rugged height for something
fabulous, would have measured them as within a
few hours' easy reach. Mountain-peaks of great
celebrity in the valleys, whence no trace of their
existence was visible sometimes for months to-
gether, had been since morning plain and near in
the blue sky. — Charles Dickens.

140.

If always seems to me as if an access of life
came with the melting of the winter's snows ; and
as if every rootlet of grass that lifted its first

Dictation Spelling Booh. 91

green blade from the matted debris of the old
year's decay, bore my spirit upon it, nearer to
the largess of Heaven.

I love to trace the break of spring step by step :
I love even those long rain-storms that sap the
icy fortresses of the lingering winter, — that melt
the snows upon the hills, and swell the mountain
brooks; — that make the pools heave up their
glassy cerements of ice, and hurry down the
crashing fragments into wastes of ocean.

Donald G. Mitchell.

141.

The room was very large and lofty. The win-
dows were long, narrow, and pointed, and at so
great a distance from the black oaken floor as to
be altogether inaccessible from within. Feeble
gleams of encrimsoned light made their way
through the trellised panes, and served to render
sufficiently distinct the more prominent objects
around; the eye, however, struggled in vain to
reach the remoter angles of the chamber, or the
recesses of the vaulted and fretted ceiling. The
general furniture was profuse, comfortless, an-
tique, and tattered. Many books and musical in-
struments lay scattered about, but failed to give
any vitality to the scene. — Edgar Allan Poe,

92 Dictation Spelling Book.

142.

The small size of the chapel confirmed the tra-
dition that it had originally been merely the hut
of a peasant; and the cross of fir-tree, covered
with bark, attested the purpose to which it was
now dedicated. The chapel and all around
breathed peace and tranquility, and the deep
sound of the mighty river seemed to impose si-
lence on each human voice that might presume to
mingle with its awful roar. — Sir Walter Scott.

143.

We intended to pluck the geese in the spring,
but it never came to that. They stole their nests
early in March, and entered upon the nurture of
their families. Some of their nests we found,
notably one under the smoke-house, where the ad-
venturous boy who discovered it was attacked in
the dark by its owner and bitten on the nose, to
the natural gratification of those who urged him
to the enterprise. But he brought away some of
the eggs, and we had them fried; and I know
nothing that conveys a vivider idea of inexhaust-
ible abundance than a fried goose egg.

William D. Howells.

Dictation Spelling Book. 93

144.

"Most readers," says the manuscript of Mr.
Patieson, "must have witnessed with delight the
joyous burst which attends the dismissing of a
village school on a fine summer evening. The
buoyant spirits of childhood, repressed with so
much difficulty during the tedious hours of dis-
cipline, may then be seen to explode, as it were,
in shout, and song, and frolic, as the little urchins
join in groups on their playground, and arrange
their matches of sport for the evening."

145.

Sweet was the sound, when oft at evening's close.
Up yonder hill the village murmur rose ;
There, as I passed with careless steps and slow,
The mingling notes came softened from below;
The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung.
The sober herd that lowed to meet their young;
The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool.
The playful childrei\ just let loose from school;
The watchdog's voice that bayed the whispering

wind.
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind;
These all in sweet confusion sought the shade.
And filled each pause the nightingale had made.

Oliver Ooldsrmth.

94 Dictation Spelling Book.

146.

No one who visits Nuremberg is likely to dis-
pute its antiquity. One wanders about in the
queer streets with the feeling of being transport-
ed back to the Middle Ages; but it is difficult to
reproduce the impression on paper. Who can de-
scribe the narrow and intricate ways; the odd
houses with many little gables; the great roofs
breaking out from eaves to ridgepole, with dozens
of dormer-windows; hanging balconies of stone,
carved and figure-beset; ornamented and frescoed
fronts; the archways, leading into queer courts
and alleys, and out again into broad streets; the
towers and fantastic steeples; and the many old
bridges, with obelisks and memorials of triumphal
entries of conquerors and princes?

Charles Dudley Warner.

147.

The really idle are oppressed by a sense of fa-
tigue, and are therefore tiresome to themselves
and others. Let those who complain of having to
work undertake to do nothing. If this do not
convert them, nothing will. Those who live in
inaction on the fruits of the labors of others lose

Dictation Spelling Book. 95

the power to enjoy, come to feel existence to be
a burden, and fall a prey to life-weariness. He
sits uneasy at the feast who thinks of the starv-
ing; he is not comfortable at his own fireside who
remembers those who have none. To know that
life is good, one must be conscious that he is
helping to make it good, at least for a few.

John, Lancaster Spalding.

148.

All the great, and wise, and good among man-
kind, all the benefactors of the human race,
whose names I read in the world's history, and
the still greater number of those whose good deeds
have outlived their names, — all those have labored
for me. I have entered into their harvest, I walk
in the green earth which they inhabited, I tread
in their footsteps, from which blessings grow. I
can undertake the sublime task which they once
undertook, the task of making our common
brotherhood wiser and happier. I can build for-
ward, where they were forced to leave off; and
bring nearer to perfection the great edifice which
they left uncompleted.

Henry Wadsuoorth Longfellow.

96 Dictation Spelling Book.

149.

Henry the Sevenths Chapel at Westminster.

On entering, the eye is astonished by the pomp
of architecture, and the elaborate beauty of
sculptured detail. The very walls are wrought
into universal ornament, encrusted with tracery,
and scooped into niches, crowded with the statues
of saints and martyrs. Stone seems, by the cun-
ning labor of the chisel, to have been robbed of
its weight and density, suspended aloft, as if by
magic, and the fretted roof achieved with the
wonderful minuteness and airy security of a cob-
web. — Washington Irving.

150.

The sea coast corresponded in variety and
beauty with the inland view. In some places it
rose into tall rocks, frequently crowned with the
ruins of old buildings, towers, or beacons, which,
according to tradition, were placed within sight
of each other, that, in times of invasion or civil
war, they might communicate by signal for
mutual defence and protection. Allengowan cas-
tle was by far the most extensive of these ruins,
and asserted from its size and situation the su-

Dictation Spelling Book. 97

periority which its founders were said once to
have possessed over the chiefs and nobles of the
district. — Sir Walter Scott.

151.

Beauty is spread abroad through earth and sea
and sky, and dwells on the face and form, and in
the heart of man; and he will shrink from the
thought of its being a thing which he, or any one
else, could monopolize. He will deem that the
highest and most blessed privilege of his genius
is, that it enables him to cherish the widest and
fullest sympathy with the hearts and thoughts
of his brethren. — Anonymous.

152.

Long after Washington's judicious and in-
trepid conduct in respect to the French and Eng-
lish had made his name familiar to all Europe,
Dr. Franklin chanced to dine with the English
and French ambassadors, when the following
toasts were drunk :

The British ambassador, rising, said: — "Eng-
land, — the sun whose beams enlighten and fertilize
the remotest corners of the earth."

The French ambassador, glowing with national

7^

98 Dictation Spelling Book.

pride, but too polite to dispute the previous toast,
drank: — "France, — the moon whose mild and
steady rays are the delight of all nations."

Dr. Franklin arose, and, with his usual digni-
fied simplicity, said: — "George Washington, — the
Joshua who commanded the sun and moon to
stand still, and they obeyed him!" — Anonymous.

153.

As at early dawn the stars stand first, and then
it grows light, and then, as the sun advances, that
light breaks into banks and streaming lines of
color, the glowing red and intense white striving
together and ribbing the horizon with bars ef-
fulgent, so on the American flag, stars and beams
of many-colored lights shine out together. And
wherever the flag comes, and men behold it, they
see in its sacred emblazonry no rampant lion and
fierce eagle, but only light, and every fold indica-
tive of liberty. — Henry Ward Beecher.

154.

But it is certain that my own immediate an-
cestors were both indiflferent and ignorant as to
questions of pedigree, and accepted with sturdy
dignity an inheritance of hard work and the priv-

Dictation Spelling Book. 99

iieges of poverty, leaving the same bequest to their
descendants. And poverty has its privileges.
When there is very little of the seen and temporal
to intercept spiritual vision, unseen and eternal
realities are, or may be, more clearly beheld.

To have been bom of people of integrity and
profound faith in God, is better than to have in-
herited material wealth of any kind.

Lucy Larcom.

155.

The sense of proprietary right is strong in dogs
and birds and cows and rabbits, and everything
that acts by nature's laws. When a dog sits in
front of his kennel, fast chained, every stranger
dog that comes in at the gate confesses that the
premises are his, and all the treasures they con-
tain; and if he hunts about — ^which he is like
enough to do, unless full of self-respect and good
victuals — ^for any bones invested in the earth to
ripen, by the vested owner, he does it with a low
tail and many pricks of conscience, perhaps hop-
ing in his heart that he may discover nothing to
tempt him into a breach of self-respect.

R. D, Blackmore,

348198

100 Dictation Spelling Booh.

156.

It was indeed a morning that might have made
any one happy. Level lines of dewy mist lay
stretched along the valley, out of which rose the
massy mountains — their lower cliffs in pale gray
shadow, hardly distinguishable from the float-
ing vapor, but gradually ascending till they
caught the sunlight, which ran in sharp touches
of ruddy color along the angular crags, and
pierced, in long level rays, through their fringes
of spear-like pine. Far above, shot up, red splin-
tered masses of castellated rock, jagged and shiv-
ered into myriads of fantastic forms, with here
and there a streak of sunlit snow, traced down
their chasms like a line of forked lightning.

John Ruskm.

157.

No profession in Egypt was considered as grov-
eling or sordid. By this means arts were raised
to their highest perfection. Every man had his
way of life assigned him by laws, and it was per-
petuated from father to son. By this means, men
became more able and expert in employments
which they had always exercised from their in-

Dictation Spelling Booh. 101

fancy ; and every man, adding his own experience
to that of his ancestors, was more capable of at-
taining perfection in his particular art.

Charles Rollms.

158.

Of learned professions in Egypt, the most im-
portant was that of the scribe. Though writing
was an ordinary accomplishment of the educated
classes, and scribes were not so absolutely neces-
sary as in most Eastern countries, yet still there
were a large number of occupations for which pro-
fessional penmanship was a prerequisite, and
others which demanded the learning which a
scribe naturally acquired in the exercise of his
trade. — Canon RawUnson.

159.

In old times, it is said that caravans threaded
the desert like strings of jewels on a tawny back-
ground. In the distance they appeared moveless
as ropes of bright dyes; and of all that have tra-
versed the route the Damascus train was the
richest. Under the green banner of the Prophet,
kings and princes set out in howdahs, hung with
scarlet and purple, jeweled fringes and feathered

102 Dictation Spelling Booh.

streamers. Pennons fluttered high in air, and
the tall spears of the desert chiefs were tufted
with fluttering ribbons. Huge white dromedaries
jingled their bells with pride equal to their mas-
ter's, litters draperied with costly stuffs were
slung between mules and camels, and the com-
moner animals of the rabble made a picture to
stir the dullest imagination. — Mrs. Lew Wallace.

160.

A noble nature is as much invigorated with its
due proportion of honor and applause, as it is de-
pressed by neglect or contempt ; but it is only per-
sons far above the common level who are thus af-
fected with either of these extremes : as in a ther-
mometer it is only the purest spirit that is either
contracted or dilated by the benignity or inclem-
ency of the season. — Richard Steele.

161.

Of all sounds of all bells (bells, the music
nighest bordering upon heaven) — most solemn
and touching is the peal which rings out the old
year. I never hear it without a gathering-up of
my mind to a concentration of all the images that
have been diffused over the past twelvemonth ; all

Dictation Spelling Book. 103

I have done or suffered, performed or neglected,
in that regretted time. I begin to know its worth,

as when a person dies. — Charles Lamb.

162.

Washington.

Perhaps the strongest feature in his character
was prudence; never acting until every circum-
stance, every consideration, was maturely
weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, but, when
once decided, going through with his purpose,
whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was
most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have
ever known, no motive of interest or consanguin-
ity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his
decision. — Thomas Jefferson.

163.

Undertake not to teach your equal in the art
he himself professes ; it savors of arrogancy.

Be not tedious in discourse; make not many di-
gressions.

Detract not from others, neither be excessive in
commending.

If two contend together, take not the part of

104 Dictation Spelling Book.

either unconstrained; in things indifferent take
the major side. — ^From "Rules of Behavior."

George Washington.

164.

The frugal snail, with forecast of repose,
Carries his house with him where'er he goes;
Peeps out, and if there comes a shower of rain,
Retreats to his small domicile again.
Touch but a tip of him, a horn, 'tis well, —
He curls up in his sanctuary shell.
He's his own landlord, his own tenant; stay
Long as he will, he dreads no Quarter Day.
Himself he boards and lodges ; both invites
And feasts himself; sleeps with himself o' nights.
He spares the upholsterer trouble to procure
Chattels; himself is his own furniture.
And his sole riches. Wherso'er he roam, —
Knock when you will, — ^he's sure to be at home.

Charles Lamb.

165.

It was really delightful to see the old squire
seated in his hereditary elbowchair, by the hos-
pitable fireplace of his ancestors, and looking
around him like the sun of a system, beaming

Dictation Spelling Book, 105

warmth and gladness to every heart. Even the
very dog that lay stretched at his feet, as he lazily
shifted his position and yawned, would look fondly
up in his master's face, wag his tail against the
floor, and stretch himself again to sleep, confident
of kindness and protection. There is an emana-
tion from the heart in genuine hospitality which
cannot be described, but is immediately felt,
and puts the stranger at once at his ease. I had
not been seated many minutes by the comfortable
hearth of the worthy old cavalier, before I felt
myself as much at home as if I had been one of the
family. — Washington Irving.

166.

It was a wood of beeches and limes, with here
and there a light, silver-stemmed birch — just the
sort of wood most haunted by the nymphs; you
see their white, sunlit limbs gleaming athwart the
boughs, or peeping from behind the smooth-sweep-
ing outline of a tall lime; you hear their soft,
liquid laughter ; but if you look with a too curious,
sacrilegious eye, they vanish behind the silvery
beeches; they make you believe that their voice
was only a running brooklet; perhaps they met-
amorphose themselves into a tawny squirrel, that
scampers away and mocks you from the topmost
bough. — George Eliot.

106 Dictation Spelling Booh,

167.

"Our thoughts," says an eloquent divine, "like
the waters of the sea, when exhaled toward Heav-
en, will lose all their bitterness and saltness, and
sweeten into an amicable humanity, until they
descend in gentle showers of love and kindness
upon our fellow-men." — Charles Caleb Colton,

168.

The eyes of the spectators on the present oc-
casion were attracted to the downward view, not
alone by its superior beauty, but because the dis-
tant sounds of military music began to be heard
from the public high-road which winded up the
vale, and announced the approach of the expect-
ed body of travelers. Their glimmering ranks
were shortly afterward seen in the distance, ap-
pearing and disappearing as the trees and the
windings of the road permitted them to be vis-
ible, and distinguished chiefly by the flashes of
light which their arms occasionally reflected
against the sun. — Sir Walter Scott,

Dictation Spelling Book. 107

169.

It was so hot, one could fairly se^ the heat.
The doorway opened into a court alive with birds
and shady with trees, whose leaves hung wilted
and curled in the flaming sunshine. Under a
pavilion of porphyry and jasper a fountain's flash
and gurgle made cooling sounds, very pleasant to
hear. It fell into a basin of alabaster bordered
with greenery and blue flags, and fed a lake where
swans were swimming and a tame ibis sought
food. The sullen King and his gloomy Counselor
sat with hands on their knees, their feet close to-
gether, like the granite statues of gods on the Nile
banks, staring eternally at nothing.

Mrs, Lew Wallace.

170.

In the majority of cases, conscience is an elas-
tic and very flexible article, which will bear a deal
of stretching, and adapt itself to a great variety
of circumstances. Some people, by prudent man-
agement^ and leaving it off piece by piece, like a
flannel waistcoat in warm weather, even contrive
in time to dispense with it altogether; but there
be others who can assume the garment and throw

108 Dictation Spelling Book,

it off at pleasure; and this, being the greatest and
most convenient improvement, is the one most in
vogue. — Charles Dickens.

171.

To most people nature appears calm, orderly
and peaceful. They see the birds singing in the
trees, the insects hovering over the flowers, the
squirrel climbing among the tree-tops, and all
living things in the possession of health and vigor,
and in the enjoyment of a sunny existence. But
they do not see, and hardly ever think of, the
means by which this beauty and harmony and
enjoyment are brought about'. They do not see
the constant and daily search after food, the fail-
ure to obtain which means weakness or death;
the constant effort to escape enemies; the ever-
recurring struggle against the forces of nature.
This daily and hourly struggle, this incessant
warfare, is nevertheless the very means by which
much of the beauty and harmony and enjoyment
in nature is produced. — Alfred Russell Wallace.

172.

They tell us, sir, that we are weak, — ^unable to
cope with so formidable an adversary. But
when shall be be stronger? Will it be the next

Dictation Spelling Book. 109

week, or the next year? Will it be when we are
totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall
be stationed in every house? Shall we gather
strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall
we acquire the means of effectual resistance by
lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the de-
lusive phantom of hope until our enemies shall
have bound us hand and foot? — Patrick Henrf.

173.

«

The wind came tearing round the comer — es-
pecially the east wind — as if it had sallied forth
express from the confines of the earth to have
a blow at Toby. And oftentimes it seemed to
come upon him sooner than it had expected; for,
bouncing round the corner, and passing Toby, it
would suddenly wheel round again, as if it cried,
*' Why, here he is!" .... And Toby himself ,
all aslant, and facing now in this direction, and
now in that, would be banged and buffeted and
touzled, and womed and hustled and lifted off
his feet, so as to render it a state of things but
one degree removed from a miracle that he was
not carried up bodily into the air, as a colony of
frogs or snails or other portable creatures some-
times are, and rained down again, to the great
astonishment of the natives, on some strange
comer of the world where ticket-porters are un-
known. — Charles Dickens.

110 Dictation Spelling Booh.

174.
A fairy, by some mysterious law of her nature,

*

was condemned to appear at certain seasons in
the form of a foul and poisonous snake. Those
who injured ier during the period of her dis-
guise were forever excluded from participation
in the blessings which she bestowed. But to those
who, in spite of her loathsome aspect, pitied and
protected her, she afterwards revealed herself
in the beautiful and celestial form which was
natural to her, accompanied their steps, granted
all their wishes, filled their houses with wealth,
made them happy in love and victorious in war.

Thomas BahMngton Macaulay.

175.

But where to find that happiest spot below.
Who can direct, when all pretend to know?
The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone
Boldly proclaims that happiest spot his own.
The naked negro, panting at the line,
Boasts of his golden sands and palmy wine.
Basks in the glare, or stems the tepid wave,
And thanks his gods for all the good they gave.
Such is the patriot's boast, where'er we roam,

Dictation Spelling Booh. Ill

His first, best country ever is at home.
And yet perhaps, if countries we compare,
And estimate the blessings which they share.
Though patriots flatter, still shall wisdom find
An equal portion dealt to all mankind.

Oliver Goldsmith.

176.

The Gothic style of architecture, which orig-
inated in France, spread over all Europe, and
during the Xlllth and XIV th centuries attained its
highest perfection. Many of the grandest edifices
occupied from one to two centuries in building.
With their heaven-piercing spires, their noble
arches, their elaborate sculptures and traceries,
and their great mullioned windows, on whose
"storied panes" the whole history of the Bible is
written in the hues of the rainbow by the earnest
hand of faith, they remain to this day the most
sublime structures ever reared by the hand of
man. — Wm. Swinton.

177.

Such as \i is, there is a great deal of music in
the East; not practiced by professionals alone,
but attempted by children, old men and women.

112 Dictation Speliing Book.

Christian, Moslem, Jew, chant their services, and
the congregation accompany with a continuous
drone on the keynote. Baptism, marriage, burial,
all feasts and solemnities, come and go with sing-
ing. There is little doubt that the music we hear
while journeying through the changeless Orient
is the same, and executed on the same instru-
ments and with the accompaniment of the same
dances, — mill tary, social, religious, — which
pleased the Pharaohs, the Kings of Judah, Assyria,
and Babylon. — Mrs. Lew Wallace.

178.

Francis Drake sailed from Plymoijth to fol-
low Magellan around the world, and he went in
a manner consonant with the popular fancy of
the countless riches that rewarded such adven-
tures. His cooking vessels were of silver; his
table-plate of exquisite workmanship. The Queen
knighted him, gave him a sword, and said, "Who-
ever striketh at you, Drake, striketh at us." A
band of musicians accompanied the fleet, and the
English sailor went to circumnavigate the globe
with the same nonchalant magnificence with
which, in other days, the gorgeous Alcibiades, with
flutes and soft recorders blowing under silken
sails, came idling home from victory.

George William Curtis.

Dictation Spelling Booh. 113

179.

The tremendous sea itself, when I could find
sufficient pause to look at it, in the agitation of
the blinding wind, the flying stones and sand,
and the awful noise, confounded me. As the high
watery walls came rolling in, and, at their high-
est, tumbled into surf, they looked as if the least
would engulf the town. As the receding wave
swept back with a hoarse roar, it seemed to scoop
out deep caves in the beach, as if its purpose were
to undermine the earth. When some white-head-
ed billows thundered on and dashed themselves
to pieces before they reached the land, every frag-
ment of the late whole seemed possessed by the full
might of its wrath, rushing to be gathered to the
composition of another monster. Undulating
hills were changed to valleys, undulating valleys
(with a solitary storm-bird sometimes skimming
through them) were lifted up to hills.

Charles Dickens.

180.

Through the cross currents of human life, fret-
ted and stained, the tides of nature keep their
steady course, and rise to their invariable mar-

8

114 Dictation Spelling Book.

gins. The seasons come up undisturbed by crime
and war. Spring creeps into even the beleaguered
city, through the tents of the besiegers; across
trench and scarp, among the wheels of the can-
non and over the graves of the dead, grass and
wild flowers speed, spreading God's table.

George Adam Smith.

181.

Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's ceusure, but reserve thy judg-
ment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy.
But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man.

Shakespeare.

182.

One of the singularities of Paris is, that it
unites twenty populations completely different in
characters and manners. By the side of the
gypsies of commerce and of art, who wander
through all the several stages of fortune or of
fancy, live a qiliet race of people with an inde-

Dictation Spelling Book, 115

pendence, or with regular work, whose existence
resembles the dial of a clock, on which the same
hand points by turns to the same hours. If no
other city can show more brilliant and more stir-
ring forms of life, no other contains more ob-
scure and more tranquil ones. Great cities are
like the sea: storms only agitate the surface; if
you go to the bottom, you find a region inacces-
sible to the tumult and the noise.

Emile Souveatre. (tr.)

183.

There is no surer mark of a vain people than
their treating other nations with contempt, es-
pecially those of whom they know least. It is
better to verify the proverb, and take everything
unknown for magnificent, than predetermine it
to be worthless. The gain is greater ; the instinct
is more judicious. — Leigh Hunt.

184.

A gentleman is not an idler, a trifler, a dandy ;
he is not a scholar only, a soldier, a mechanic, a
merchant; he is the flower of men, in whom the
accomplishment of the scholar, the bravery of the
soldier, the skill of the mechanic, the sagacity of

116 Dictation Spelling Book.

the merchant; all have their part and apprecia-
tion. A sense of duty is his mainspring, and,
like a watch crusted with precious stones, his
function is not to look pretty, but to tell the time
of day. He feels himself personally disgraced
by an insult to humanity, for he, too, is only a
man ; and however stately his house may be, and
murmurous with music, however glowing with
pictures and graceful with statues and reverend
with books — ^however his horses may out-trot
other horses, and his yacht outsail all yachts —
the gentleman is king and master of these, and
not their servant; he wears them for ornament,
like the ring on his finger or the flower in his
buttonhole; and if they go, the gentleman re-
mains. — Oeorge William Curtis.

185.

Evidently that gate is never opened, for the
long grass and the great hemlocks grow close
against it; and if it were opened, it is so rusty
that the force necessary to turn it on its hinges
would be likely to pull down the square stone
pillars, to the detriment of the two stone lion-
esses, which grin, with a doubtful carnivorous af-
fability, above a coat-of-arms surmounting each
of the pillars. It would be easy enough, by the

Dictation Spelling Book. 117

aid of the nicks in the stone pillars^ to climb over
the brick wall, with its smooth stone coping; but
by putting our eyes close to the rusty bars of the
gate, we can see the old house well enough, and
all but the very comers of the grassy enclosure.

George Eliot.

186.

A gaunt figure, with sunburnt hair, wearing
raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle
about his loins, might pose for Raphael's picture
of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the
way of the Lord, make his paths straight." Yon-
der, among the mountain intervals, Joseph, in
every-day suit of sheep-skin, feeds his flocks with
his brethren; his coat of many colors you may
see in the bazaar. The low-browed, sullen-faced
Ishmaelites yet travel from Gilead, with camels
bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to
carry it down to Egypt. Judging by appearances,
these remote descendants of the ancient slave-
holders would buy Joseph if they dared, and his
brethren would sell him cheap.

Mrs. Lew Wallace.

118 Dictation Spelling Booh.

187.

#

The door, which moved with diflBculty on its
creaking and rusty hinges, being forced quite
open, a square and sturdy little urchin became
apparent, with cheeks as red as an apple.

"Well, child," said Hepzibah, taking heart at
sight of a personage so little formidable, — "Well,
my child, what did you wish for?'*

"That Jim Crow there, in the window," an-
swered the urchin, holding out a cent, and point-
ing to the gingerbread figure that had attracted
his notice, as he loitered along to school; "the
one that has not a broken foot."

So Hepzibah put forth her lank arm, and tak-
ing the eflSgy from the shop window, delivered it
to her first customer.

"No matter for the money," said she, giving
him a little push towards the door.

Nathaniel Hawthorne.

188.

"Dear Clifford," said Hepzibah, in the tone
with which one soothes a wayward infant, "this
is our cousin Phoebe, — little Phoebe Pyncheon, —
Arthur's only child, you know. She has come

Dictation Spelling Book. 119

from the country to stay with us awhile ; for our
old house has grown to be very lonely now."

"Phoebe ? — Phoebe Pyncheon ? — Phoebe ?" re-
peated the guest, with a strange, sluggish, ill-
defined utterance. "Arthur's child? Ah, I for-
get! No matter! She is very welcome!"

"Come, dear Clifford, take this chair,'' said
Hepzibah, leading him to his place. "Pray,
Phoebe, lower the curtain a very little more.
Now let us begin breakfast."

NatJianiel Hawthorne.

189.

Phoebe, on entering the shop, found there the
already familiar face of the little devourer of
Jim Crow, the elephant, the camel, the drome-
daries, and the locomotive. Having expended his
private fortune, on the two preceding days, in the
purchase of the above unheard-of luxuries, the
young gentleman's present errand was on the part
of his mother, in quest of three eggs and half a
pound of raisins. These articles Phoebe accord-
ingly supplied, and, as a mark of gratitude for
his previous patronage, and a slight superadded
morsel after breakfast, put likewise into his
hand a whale. The great fish, reversing his ex*
perience with the prophet of Nineveh, imnxediate-

A

120 Dictation Spelling Book.

ly began his progress down the same red pathway
of fate whither so varied a caravan had preceded
him. — Nathaniel Hawthorne.

190.

Longfellow's natural dignity and grace, and the
beautiful refinement of his countenance, together
with his perfect taste in dress and the exquisite
simplicity of his manners, made him the absolute
ideal of what a poet should be. His voice, too,
was soft, sweet, and musical, and liEe his face,
it had the innate charm of tranquility. His eyes
were bluish gray, very bright and brave, change-
able under the influence of emotion, but mostly
grave, attentive and gentle. The habitual ex-
pression of his face may be described as that of
serious and tender though tfulness.

William Wvnter.

191.

English travelers are the best and the worst
in the world. Where no motives of pride or in-
terest' intervene, none can equal them for pro-
found and philosophical views of society, or
faithful and graphical descriptions of external
objects ; but when either the interest or the repu-

Dictation Spelling Book. 121

tation of their own country comes in collision
with that of another, they go to the opposite ex-
treme, and forget their usual probity and candor
in the indulgence of splenetic remark, and an il-
liberal spirit of ridicule. — Waahmgton Irving.

192.

Old Homer is the very fountain-head of pure
poetic enjoyment, of all that is spontaneous, sim-
ple, native, and dignified in life. He takes us
into the ambrosial world of heroes, of human
vigor, of purity, of grace. He is the eternal type
of the poet. In him alone of the poets, a na-
tional life is transfigured, wholly beautiful, com-
plete, and happy; where care, doubt, decay, are
as yet unborn. All later poetry paint's an ideal
world, conceived by a sustained effort of inven-
tion. Homer paints a world which he saw.

Frederic Harrison.

193.

What innumerable blessings we miss through
lack of sensibility, of openness to light, of fair-
mindedness, of insight, of teachableness, — virtues
which it is possible for all to cultivate! The best
is not ours, not because it is far away and un-

122 Dictation Spelling Book.

attainable, but because we ourselves are indif-
ferent, narrow, shortsighted, and unsympathetic.
To make our world larger and fairer, it is not
necessary to discover or acquire new objects, but
to grow into conscious and loving harmony with
the good which is ever present and inviting.

John Lancaster Spalding.

194.

It is for this rare, precious quality of truthful-
ness that I delight in many Dutch paintings,
which many lofty-minded people despise. I find
a source of delicious sympathy in these faithful
pictures of a monotonous, lonely existence, which
has been the fate of so many more among my
fellow-mortals than a life of pomp, or of absolute
indigence, of tragic suffering, or of world-stirring
actions. I turn without shrinking from cloud*
borne angels, from prophets, sybils, and heroic
warriors, to an old woman bending over her
flower-pot, or eating her solitary dinner, while
the noon-day light, softened, perhaps, by a screen
of leaves, falls on her mop-cap, and just touches
the rim of her spinning-wheel. — George Eliot.

Dictation Spelling Book. 123

195.

Noble architecture is one element of patriotism.

James Ruaaell Lowell,

The art of building is the strongest, proudest,
and most enduring, of the arts of man; it is the
art which is associated with all civic pride and
sacred principle; with which men record their
power, satisfy their enthusiasm, make sure their
defense, define and make dear their habitation.

John Ruakin.

196.

We journeyed for about two hours, and the sun
was just setting when we entered a region in-
finitely more dreary than any yet seen. It was a
species of table-land, near the summit of an al-
most inaccessible hill, densely wooded from base
to pinnacle, and interspersed with huge crags
that appeared to lie loosely upon tHe soil, and in
many cases were prevented from precipitating
themselves into the valleys below, merely by the
support of the trees against which they reclined.

124 Dictation Spelling Booh.

Deep ravines, in various directions, gave an air
of still sterner solemnity to the scene.

Edgar Allan Poe,

197.

There were no shops in ancient Mexico, but
the various manufactures and agricultural prod-
ucts were brought together for sale in the market-
places of the principal cities. The traffic was
carried on partly by barter, and partly by means
of a regulated currency, of different values. This
consisted of transparent quills of gold dust; of
bits of tin, cut in the form of a T; and of bags
of cacao, containing a specified number of grains.
"Blessed money," exclaimed Peter Martyr,
"which exempts its possessors from avarice, since
it cannot be long hoarded, nor hidden under
ground." — WilUam H. Prescott.

198.

In traveling by land, there is a continuity of
scene, and a connected succession of persons and
incidents, that carry on the story of life, and
lessen the effect of absence and separation. But a
wide sea voyage severs us at once. It makes us

Dictation Spelling Book. 125

conscious of being cast loose from the secure an-
chorage of settled life, and sent adrift upon a
doubtful world. It interposes a gulf, not merely
imaginary, but real, between us and our homes —
a gulf subject to tempest, and fear, and uncer-
tainty, that makes distance palpable, and return
precarious. — Washington Irving.

199.

They only joined issue to ^ dispute whether
llamas were carnivorous animals or not, in which
dispute they were not quite on fair grounds, as
Mrs. Forrester acknowledged that she always
confused carnivorous and graminivorous to-
gether, just as she did horizontal and perpendicu-
lar; but then she apologized for it very prettily
by saying that in her day, the only use people
made of four-syllabled words was to teach how
they should be spelled. — Mrs. Oaskell.

200.

When we reflect on what man is, on the place
he occupies in creation, the faculties with which
he has been endowed, the treasures he has re-
ceived, we can no longer be reconciled -to the thought

126 Dictation Spelling Book.

that all this love, all this force, all this intelli-
gence, should be employed only in the service of
their possessor; that God asks of us only that
we should not mar his plan, should not cut each
other's throats, should not persecute one an-
other; but it is clear, on the other hand, that God
has saved us from nothingness that we may be
fellow-workers in his sublime task; that he has
commanded us to love and to aid our brothers and
to do them good. — Jules Simon, (tr.)

201.

By a judicious system of canals and subter-
ranean aqueducts, the waste places on the coast
were refreshed by copious streams, that clothed
them with fertility and beauty. Terraces were
raised upon the steep sides of the Cordillera; and,
as the different elevations had the effect of dif-
ference of latitude, they exhibited in regular
gradation every variety of vegetable form, from
the stimulated growth of the tropics, to the tem-
perate products of a northern clime; while flocks
of llamas — the Peruvian sheep — ^wandered with
their shepherds over the broad snow-covered
wastes on the crests of the sierra, which rose be-
yond the limits of cultivation.

William H. .Preacott.

Dictation Spelling Book. 127

202.

As the astronomers tell U3 that it is probable
that there are in the universe innumerable solar
systems besides ours, to each of which myriads
of utterly unknown and unseen stars belong; so
it is certain that every man, however obscure,
however far removed from general recognition,
is one of a group of men impressible for good, and
impressible for evil ; and that it is in the eternal
nature of things, that he cannot really improve
himself without in some degree improving other
men. — Charles Dickens.

203. -

It is restful to body and spirit to contemplate
the Arab's supreme contentment with his lot, his
carelessness of the future, his ineffable dignity of
repose from feverish activity and constant strain-
ing after an ideal never satisfied, which exists in the
more active, but hardly more gifted races of the West.
In the enchanting country ruled by the Kaliphs,
it was not without reason they had engraved on
the public seal, "The servant of the Merciful
rests content in the decree of Allah."

Mrs. Lew Wallace,

128 Dictation Spelling Book,

204.

The fondness for rural life among the higher
classes of the English, has had a great and salu-
tary effect upon the national character. I do not
know a finer race of men than the English gentle-
men. Instead of the softness and effeminacy
which characterize the men of rank in most coun-
tries, they exhibit a union of elegance and
strength, a robustness of frame and freshness of
complexion, which I am inclined to attribute to
their living so much in the open air,' and to pur-
suing so eagerly the invigorating recreations of
the country. — Washington Irving,

205.

Jefferson had most of the requisites of a great
lawyer; industry so quiet, methodical, and sus-
tained, that it amounted to a gift; learning mul-
tifarious and exact; skill and rapidity in hand-
ling books; the instinct of research that leads
him who has it to the fact he wants, as surely as
the hound scents the game; a serenity of temper
which neither the ineptitude of witnesses nor
the badgering of counsel could ever disturb.

James Parton,

Dictation Spelling Book. 129

206.

But have you ever rightly considered what the
mere ability to read means? That it is the key
which admits us to the whole world of thought
and fancy and imagination? To the company of
saint and sinner and sage, of the wisest and the
wittiest at their wisest and wittiest moment?
That it' enables us to see with the keenest eyes,
hear with the finest ears, and listen to the sweet-
est voices of all time? More than that, it annihi-
lates time and space for us, endowing us with the
shoes of swiftness and the cap of darkness, so
that we walk invisible like fern-seed, and wit-
ness unharmed the plague at Athens or Florence
or London; accompany Caesar on his marches,
or look in on Catiline in council with his fellow
conspirators, or Guy Fawkes in the cellar of St.
Stephen's. — James Russell Lowell.

207.

Be good, and love; there is genuine joy only
in the emotions of the heart; sensibility is the
whole man. Leave science to the wise, pride to
the nobles, luxury to the rich; have compassion
on humble wretchedness ; the smallest and most

9

130 Dictation Spelling Booh.

despised being may in himself be worth as much
as thousands of the powerful and the proud.
Take care not to bruise the delicate souls which
flourish in all conditions^ under all costumes, in
all ages. Believe that' humanity, pity, forgive-
ness, are the finest things in man; believe that
intimacy, expansion, tenderness, tears, are the
finest things in the world. To live is nothing;
to be powerful, learned, illustrious, is little ; to be
useful is not enough. He alone has lived and is
a man, who has wept at the remembrance of a
benefit given or received. — Henry Taine.

(Estimate of Dickens' Philosophy.)

208.

The mellow year is hastening to its close;
The little birds have almost sung their last.
Their small notes twitter in the dreary blast —
That shrill-piped harbinger of early snows ;
The patient beauty of the scentless rose.
Oft with the morn's hoar crystal quaintly glassed.
Hangs, — a pale mourner for the summer past, —
And makes a little summer where it grows;
In the chill sunbeam of the faint, brief day,
The dusky waters shudder as they shine ;
The russet leaves obstruct the straggling way
Of oozy brooks, which no deep banks define;

Dictation Spelling Book. 131

And the gaunt' woods, in ragged, scant array,
Wrap their old limbs, with somber ivy twined.

Hartley Coleridge.

209.

Let the young girl of America be instructed in
the history of her country; let her be taught the
story of the wives and motliers of the Revolution;
of their devoted attachment to their country in
the hour of its darkest peril ; of that proud spirit
of resistance to its oppressors which no persecu-
tion could overcome; of that unfaltering courage
which lifted them high above the weakness of
their sex, and lent them strength to encourage
and to cheer the fainting spirits of those who
were doing battle in its cause; and when that
girl shall become a matron, that love of country
will have grown with her growth and strength-
ened in her heart, and the first lessons that a
mother's love will instil into the breast of the
infant on her knee, will be the devotion to that
country of which her education shall have taught
her to be justly proud. — Judah PMUp Benjamin.

210.

Take the young boy of America and lead his
mind back to the days of Washington. Teach.

132 Dictation Spelling Booh.

him the story of the great man's life. Follow
him from the moment when the youthful soldier
first drew his sword in defense of his country, and
depict his conduct and his courage on the dark
battlefield where Braddock fell. Let each suc-
cessive scene of the desperate Eevolutionary
struggle be made familiar to his mind; let him
trace the wintry march by the blood-stained path
of a barefooted soldiery, winding their painful
way over a frozen soil ; teach him in imagination
to share the triumphs of Trenton, of Princeton,
and of Yorktown. And as the story shall pro-
ceed, that boy's cheeks shall glow and his eye
shall kindle with a noble enthusiasm, his heart
shall beat with quicker pulse, and in his inmost
soul shall he vow undying devotion to that coun-
try which, above all riches, possesses that price-
less treasure, the name, the fame, and the memory
of Washington. — Judah Philip Benjamin.

211.

The weather is that phase of Nature in which
she is a creature of moods, of caprices, of cross-
purposes; gloomy and downcast today, and all
light and joy tomorrow; caressing and tender
one moment, and severe and frigid the next; one
day iron, the next day vapor; inconsistent, incon-

Dictation Spelling Book. 133

stant, incalculable; full of genius, full of folly,
full of extremes; to be read and understood, not
by pule, but by subtle signs and indications, — ^by
a look, a glance, a presence, as we read and un-
derstand a man or woman. — John, Burroughs.

212.

Happiness is reflective, like the light of heav-
en ; and every countenance bright with smiles,
and glowing with innocent enjoyment, is a mirrop
transmitting to others the rays of a supreme and
ever-shining benevolence. He who can turn churl-
ishly away from contemplating the felicity of his
fellow-beings, and can sit down darkling and re-
pining in his loneliness when all around is joyful,
may have his moments of strong excitement and
selfish gratifications; but he wants the genial and
social sympathies which constitute the charm of
a merry Christmas. — Washington Irving.

213.

The compensations of calamity are made ap-
parent to the understanding after long intervals
of time. A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disap-
pointment, the loss of wealth, the loss of friends,

134 Dictation Spelling Booh.

seems at the moment unpaid loss, and unpayable.
But the sure years reveal a deep remedial force
that underlies all facts. — Ralph Waldo Emerson.

214.

The general character of the landscape in
Southern California is amply and truthfully de-
noted in the objects that fill the picture as you
make this journey toward the Mexican frontier.
It is a landscape of wonderful amplitude and
rich variety, and the sight of it at once broadens
perception and dignifies thought. The life of the
inhabitants may be frivolous or may be fine;
the life of Nature is stupendous, and everything
here has been made for grandeur. The moun-
tains and the ocean, monitors of human insig-
nificance and emblems of eternity, are here closely
confronted; and, however much the spirit of the
spectacle may be modified by inferior adjuncts,
the dominant note of it is sublimity.

William Winter.

215.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swal*
lowed, and some few to be chewed and digested;
that is, some books are to be read only in parts;

Dictation /Spelling Book. 135

others to be read, but not curiously; and some
few to be read wholly, and with diligence and
attention. Beading maketh a full man, confer-
ence a ready man, and writing an exact man;
and therefore, if a man write little, he had need
have a great memory; if he confer little, he had
need have a present wit ; and if he read little, he
had need have much cunning, to seem to know
that he doth not. — Francis Bacon,

216.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my ad-
ministration, I am unconscious of intentional er-
ror, 1 am nevertheless too sensible of my defects
not to think it probable that I may have com-
mitted many errors. Whatever they may be, I
fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or miti-
gate the evils to which they may tend. I shall
also carry with me the hope that my country will
never cease to view them with indulgence; and
that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to
its service with an upright zeal, the faults of
incompetent abilities will be consigned to ob-
livion. — ^From Washington's Farewell Address.

136 Dictation Spelling Book.

217.

Whichever way we turn, we are confronted with
a flooding life which clothes the world as with a
garment, constantly rewoven on invisible and in-
audible looms. Sometimes the wave recedes, but
it always returns; and even in its ebb we have
learned to find the definite and inevitable promise
of its flood. Winter is concealment, not absence
of life, and the woods are as full of potential vi-
tality when the snow covers them, as when the
summer sun strives in vain to penetrate the depths
of their foliage. — Hamilton Mabie.

218.

How shall we choose our books? Which are
the best, the eternal, indispensable books? To
all to whom reading is something more than a re-
fined idleness these questions recur, bringing
with them the sense of bewilderment; and a still,
small voice within me is forever crying out for
some guide across the Slough of Despond of an
illimitable and ever-swelling literature. How
many a man stands beside it, as uncertain of his
pathway as the Pilgrim, when he who dreamed

Dictation Spelling Book. 137

the immortal dream heard him ^^break out with
a lamentable cry; saying, What shall I do?"

Frederic Harrison.

219.

Some are of the opinion that the souls of men
are all naturally equal, and that the great dis-
parity we so often observe, arises from the dif-
ferent organization or structure of the body. But
whatever constitutes this first disparity, the next
great difference in their acquirements is owing
to accidental differences in their education, for-
tunes, or course of life. — Hughes.

220.

Lincoln owed nothing to his birth, everything
to his growth ; had no training save what he gave
himself; no nurture but only a wild and native
strength. His life was his schooling, and every
day of it gave to his character a new touch of
development. His eyes, as they looked more and
more abroad, beheld the national life, and com-
prehended it ; and the lad who had been so rough-
cut a provincial became, when grown to man-
hood, the one leader in all the nation who held
the whole people singly in his heart.

Woodrow Wilson.

138 Dictation Spelling Book.

221.

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers
brought forth upon this continent a new nation,
conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the propo-
sition that all men are created equal. Now we
are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether
that nation, or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a
great battle-field of that war. We' have come to
dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-
place for those who here gave their lives that that
nation might live.
From Lincoln's Address at Gettyshurg^ Novent-

her 19, 1863.

222.

This morning I was pitying those whose lives
are obscure and joyless; now, I understand that
God has provided a compensation with every
trial. The smallest pleasure derives from rarity
a relish otherwise unknown. Enjoyment is only
what we feel to be such, and the luxurious man
feels no longer: satiety has destroyed his appe-
tite, while privation preserves to the other that

Dictation Spelling Book. 139

first of earthly blessings, the being easily made
happy. If happiness is the rarest of blessings, it
is because the reception of it is the rarest of vir-
tues. — Emil Souveatre. (tr. )

223.

Now, to stuff our minds with what is simply
trivial, simply curious, or that which at best has
but a low nutritive power, this is to close our
minds to what is solid and enlarging, and spirit-
ually sustaining. Whether our neglect of the
great books comes from our not reading at all, or
from an incorrigible habit of reading the little
books, it ends in just the same thing. And that
thing is ignorance of all the greater literature
of the world. To neglect all the abiding parts of
knowledge for the sake of the evanescent parts, is
really to know nothing worth knowing.

Frederic Harrison.

224.

Whether we climb them or gaze at them, the
mountains produce in us that mingling of moral
and physical emotion in which the temper of true
worship consists. They seclude us from trifles,
and give the mind the fellowship of greatness.

140 Dictation Spelling Book.

They inspire patience and peace; they speak of
faithfulness and guardianship. But chiefly, the
mountains are sacraments of hope. That high^
steadfast line — how it raises the spirits, and lifts
the heart from care; how early it signals the day,
how near it brings heaven !

George Adam Smith.

225.

There are faces which nature charges with a
meaning and pathos not btlonging to the simple
human soul that flutters beneath them, but speak-
ing with joys and sorrows of foregone genera-
tions — eyes that tell of deep love which doubtless
has been, and is, somewhere, but not paired with
those eyes — perhaps paired with pale eyes that
can say nothing; just as a national language may
be instinct with poetry unfelt by the lips that
use it-r-George Eliot.

226.

Ye ice-falls; ye that from the mountain's brow
Adown enormous ravines slope amain, —
Torrents methinks, that heard a mighty voice,
And stopped at once amid their maddest plunge!
Motionless torrents! silent cataracts!

Dictation Spelling Book. 141

Who made you, glorious as the gates of Heaven
Beneath the full keen moon? Who bade the sun
Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living

flowers
Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet?
God! let the torrents, like a shout of nations,
Answer, and let the ice-plains echo, God !

Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

227.

The Great Stone Face, then, was a work of na-
ture in her mood of majestic playfulness, formed
on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some
immense rocks, which had been thrown together
in such a position as, when viewed at a proper dis-
tance, precisely to resemble the features of the
human countenance. It seemed as if an enormous
giant, or Titan, had sculpturd his own likeness
on the precipice. True it is, that if the spectator
approached too near, he lost the outline of the
gigantic visage, and could discern only a heap of
ponderous and gigantic rocks, piled in chaotic
ruin one upon another. Retracing his steps, how-
ever, the wondrous features would again be seen.

"Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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